Rice cultivar LaKast

ABSTRACT

A rice cultivar designated LaKast is disclosed. The invention relates to the seeds of rice cultivar LaKast, to the plants of rice cultivar LaKast, to plant parts of rice cultivar LaKast, and to methods for producing a rice plant produced by crossing rice cultivar LaKast with itself or with another rice variety. The invention also relates to methods for producing a rice plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes and to the transgenic rice plants and plant parts produced by those methods. This invention also relates to rice cultivars, or breeding cultivars, and plant parts derived from rice cultivar LaKast, to methods for producing other rice cultivars, lines or plant parts derived from rice cultivar LaKast, and to the rice plants, varieties, and their parts derived from use of those methods. The invention further relates to hybrid rice seeds, plants, and plant parts produced by crossing rice cultivar LaKast with another rice cultivar.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinctive rice cultivar, designated LaKast. All publications cited in this application are herein incorporated by reference.

Rice is an ancient agricultural crop and is today one of the principal food crops of the world. There are two cultivated species of rice: Oryza sativa L., the Asian rice, and O. glaberrima Steud., the African rice. O. sativa L. constitutes virtually all of the world's cultivated rice and is the species grown in the United States. Three major rice producing regions exist in the United States: the Mississippi Delta (Arkansas, Mississippi, northeast Louisiana, southeast Missouri), the Gulf Coast (southwest Louisiana, southeast Texas), and the Central Valleys of California.

Rice is a semi-aquatic crop that benefits from flooded soil conditions during part or all of the growing season. In the United States, rice is grown on flooded soils to optimize grain yields. Heavy clay soils or silt loam soils with hard pan layers about 30 cm below the surface are typical rice-producing soils because they minimize water losses from soil percolation. Rice production in the United States can be broadly categorized as either dry-seeded or water-seeded. In the dry-seeded system, rice is sown into a well-prepared seed bed with a grain drill or by broadcasting the seed and incorporating it with a disk or harrow. Moisture for seed germination is from irrigation or rainfall. For the dry-seeded system, when the plants have reached sufficient size (four- to five-leaf stage), a shallow permanent flood of water 5 to 16 cm deep is applied to the field for the remainder of the crop season.

In the water-seeded system, rice seed is soaked for 12 to 36 hours to initiate germination, and the seed is broadcast by airplane into a flooded field. The seedlings emerge through a shallow flood, or the water may be drained from the field for a short period of time to enhance seedling establishment. A shallow flood is maintained until the rice approaches maturity. For both the dry-seeded and water-seeded production systems, the fields are drained when the crop is mature, and the rice is harvested 2 to 3 weeks later with large combines. In rice breeding programs, breeders try to employ the production systems predominant in their respective region. Thus, a drill-seeded breeding nursery is used by breeders in a region where rice is drill-seeded and a water-seeded nursery is used in regions where water-seeding is important.

Rice in the United States is classified into three primary market types by grain size, shape, and chemical composition of the endosperm: long-grain, medium grain and short-grain. Typical U. S. long-grain cultivars cook dry and fluffy when steamed or boiled, whereas medium- and short-grain cultivars cook moist and sticky. Long-grain cultivars have been traditionally grown in the southern states and generally receive higher market prices.

Rice, Oryza sativa L., is an important and valuable field crop. Thus, a continuing goal of plant breeders is to develop stable, high yielding rice cultivars that are agronomically sound. The reasons for this goal are obviously to maximize the amount of grain produced on the land used and to supply food for both animals and humans. To accomplish this goal, the rice breeder must select and develop rice plants that have the traits that result in superior cultivars.

The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The following embodiments and aspects thereof are described in conjunction with systems, tools and methods which are meant to be exemplary and illustrative, not limiting in scope. In various embodiments, one or more of the above described problems have been reduced or eliminated, while other embodiments are directed to other improvements.

According to the invention, there is provided a novel rice cultivar designated LaKast. This invention thus relates to the seeds of rice cultivar LaKast, to the plants of rice LaKast and to methods for producing a rice plant produced by crossing the rice LaKast with itself or another rice line.

Thus, any such methods using the rice variety LaKast are part of this invention: selfing, backcrosses, hybrid production, crosses to populations, and the like. All plants produced using rice variety LaKast as a parent are within the scope of this invention. Advantageously, the rice variety could be used in crosses with other, different, rice plants to produce first generation (F₁) rice hybrid seeds and plants with superior characteristics.

In another aspect, the present invention provides for single gene converted plants of LaKast. The single transferred gene may preferably be a dominant or recessive allele. Preferably, the single transferred gene will confer such traits as herbicide resistance, insect resistance, resistance for bacterial, fungal, or viral disease, male fertility, male sterility, enhanced nutritional quality, and industrial usage. The single gene may be a naturally occurring rice gene or a transgene introduced through genetic engineering techniques.

In another aspect, the present invention provides regenerable cells for use in tissue culture of rice plant LaKast. The tissue culture will preferably be capable of regenerating plants having the physiological and morphological characteristics of the foregoing rice plant, and of regenerating plants having substantially the same genotype as the foregoing rice plant. Preferably, the regenerable cells in such tissue cultures will be embryos, protoplasts, meristematic cells, callus, pollen, leaves, anthers, root tips, flowers, seeds, panicles or stems. Still further, the present invention provides rice plants regenerated from the tissue cultures of the invention.

In addition to the exemplary aspects and embodiments described above, further aspects and embodiments will become apparent by study of the following descriptions.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the description and tables which follow, a number of terms are used. In order to provide a clear and consistent understanding of the specification and claims, including the scope to be given such terms, the following definitions are provided:

Abiotic stress. As used herein, abiotic stress relates to all non-living chemical and physical factors in the environment. Examples of abiotic stress include, but are not limited to, drought, flooding, salinity, temperature, and climate change.

Aggregate sheath spot. Is caused by the fungus Rhizoctonia oryzae-sativae (Sawada) Mordue (=Ceratobasidium oryzae-sativae). This disease causes sheath lesions and can reduce yield and grain quality. California varieties generally rate between 2 and 4 in greenhouse tests on a scale of 0 to 4.

Alkali spreading value. Indicator of gelatinization temperature and an index that measures the extent of disintegration of milled rice kernel in contact with dilute alkali solution. Standard long grains have 3 to 5 Alkali Spreading Value (intermediate gelatinization temperature). Standard medium and short grain rice have 6 to 7 Alkali Spreading Values (low gelatinization temperature).

Allele. Allele is any of one or more alternative forms of a gene, all of which alleles relate to one trait or characteristic. In a diploid cell or organism, the two alleles of a given gene occupy corresponding loci on a pair of homologous chromosomes.

Alter. The utilization of up-regulation, down-regulation, or gene silencing.

Apparent amylose percent. The most important grain characteristic that describes cooking behavior in each grain class, or type, i.e., long, medium and short grain. The percentage of the endosperm starch of milled rice that is amylose. Standard long grains contain 20 to 23% amylose. Rexmont type long grains contain 24 to 25% amylose. Short and medium grain rice contain 16 to 19% amylose. Waxy rice contains 0% amylose. Amylose values will vary over environments.

Backcrossing. Backcrossing is a process in which a breeder repeatedly crosses hybrid progeny back to one of the parents, for example, a first generation hybrid F₁ with one of the parental genotypes of the F₁ hybrid.

Bakanae. Is caused by the fungus Fusarium fujikuroi Nirenberg (=Gibberella fujikuroi). It causes reduced seed germination and abnormal seedling elongation often followed by crown rot. Susceptibility of varieties is expressed as percent symptomatic plants.

Blanking %. Visual estimate of the percent of sterile florets (florets that are empty with no filled kernels) in the panicle as a measurement of cool temperature induced pollen sterility. Blanking may also be induced by high temperatures and by genetic incompatibility of the parents. This data may be collected in screening nurseries at cool locations, cool years, and also in screening tests in refrigerated greenhouses.

Breakdown. The peak viscosity minus the hot paste viscosity.

Breeding. The genetic manipulation of living organisms.

Cell. Cell as used herein includes a plant cell, whether isolated, in tissue culture or incorporated in a plant or plant part.

Cross-pollination. Fertilization by the union of two gametes from different plants.

Cool paste viscosity. Viscosity measure of rice flour/water slurry after being heated to 95 EC and uniformly cooled to 50 EC (American Association of Cereal Chemist). Values less than 200 for cool paste indicate softer cooking types of rice.

Days to 50% heading. Average number of days from planting to the day when 50% of all panicles are exerted at least partially through the leaf sheath. A measure of maturity.

Diploid. A cell or organism having two sets of chromosomes.

Elongation. Cooked kernel elongation is the ratio of the cooked kernel length divided by the uncooked kernel length. Extreme cooked kernel elongation is a unique feature of basmati type rice and an important quality criterion for that market type.

Embryo. The embryo is the small plant contained within a mature seed.

Essentially all the physiological and morphological characteristics. A plant having essentially all the physiological and morphological characteristics means a plant having the physiological and morphological characteristics of the cultivar, except for the characteristics derived from the converted gene.

F_(#). The “F” symbol denotes the filial generation, and the # is the generation number, such as F₁, F₂, F₃, etc.

Final viscosity. Viscosity at the end of the test or cold paste.

Gene. As used herein, “gene” refers to a unit of inheritance corresponding to DNA or RNA that code for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism.

Gene silencing. The interruption or suppression of the expression of a gene at the level of transcription or translation.

Genotype. Refers to the genetic constitution of a cell or organism.

Grain length (L). Length of a rice grain is measured in millimeters.

Grain width (W). Width of a rice grain is measured in millimeters.

Grain yield. Grain yield is measured in pounds per acre and at 12.0% moisture. Grain yield of rice is determined by the number of panicles per unit area, the number of fertile florets per panicle, and grain weight per floret.

Haploid. A cell or organism having one set of the two sets of chromosomes in a diploid.

Harvest moisture. The percent of moisture of the grain when harvested.

Head rice. Kernels of milled rice with greater than ¾ of a kernel unbroken.

Hot paste viscosity. Viscosity measure of rice flour/water slurry after being heated to 95 EC. Lower values indicate softer and stickier cooking types of rice.

Length/Width (L/W) ratio. This ratio is determined by dividing the average length (L) by the average width (W).

Linkage. Refers to a phenomenon wherein alleles on the same chromosome tend to segregate together more often than expected by chance if their transmission was independent.

Linkage disequilibrium. Refers to a phenomenon wherein alleles tend to remain together in linkage groups when segregating from parents to offspring, with a greater frequency than expected from their individual frequencies.

Locus. A defined segment of DNA.

Lodging resistance (also called Straw strength). Lodging is measured as a subjective rating and is percentage of the plant stems leaning or fallen completely to the ground before harvest. Visual scoring where 0%=all plants standing to 100%=all plant in plot are laying flat on the soil surface. Lodged plants are difficult to harvest and reduce yield and grain quality.

Milling yield. Milling yield is the total amount of milled rice (whole and broken kernels) recovered after removal of hulls, bran, and germ by milling and head-rice yield, the total amount of whole kernels recovered after milling. Values are expressed as weight percentage of the original paddy or rough rice sample that was milled. For example, a milling yield of 65/70 is a sample of 100 grams of rough rice that produced 65 grams of head rice and 70 grams of total milled rice.

Nucleic acid. An acidic, chainlike biological macromolecule consisting of multiple repeat units of phosphoric acid, sugar and purine and pyrimidine bases.

1000 Grain wt. The weight of 1000 rice grains as measured in grams. It can be for paddy, brown or milled rice.

Pedigree. Refers to the lineage or genealogical descent of a plant.

Pedigree distance. Relationship among generations based on their ancestral links as evidenced in pedigrees. May be measured by the distance of the pedigree from a given starting point in the ancestry.

Percent identity. Percent identity as used herein refers to the comparison of the homozygous alleles of two rice varieties. Percent identity is determined by comparing a statistically significant number of the homozygous alleles of two developed varieties. For example, a percent identity of 90% between rice variety 1 and rice variety 2 means that the two varieties have the same allele at 90% of their loci.

Percent similarity. Percent identity as used herein refers to the comparison of the homozygous alleles of two rice varieties. Percent identity is determined by comparing a statistically significant number of the homozygous alleles of two developed varieties. For example, a percent identity of 90% between rice variety 1 and rice variety 2 means that the two varieties have the same allele at 90% of their loci.

Peak viscosity. The maximum viscosity attained during heating when a standardized instrument-specific protocol is applied to a defined rice flour-water slurry.

Plant. As used herein, the term “plant” includes reference to an immature or mature whole plant, including a plant from which seed, grain, or anthers have been removed. Seed or embryo that will produce the plant is also considered to be the plant.

Plant height. Plant height measured in centimeters or inches is taken from soil surface to the tip of the extended panicle at harvest.

Plant parts. As used herein, the term “plant parts” (or a rice plant, or a part thereof) includes but is not limited to protoplasts, leaves, stems, roots, root tips, anthers, pistils, seed, grain, embryo, pollen, ovules, cotyledon, hypocotyl, pod, flower, shoot, tissue, petiole, cells, meristematic cells, and the like.

Progeny. As used herein, includes an F₁ rice plant produced from the cross of two rice plants where at least one plant includes rice cultivar LaKast and progeny further includes, but is not limited to, subsequent F₂, F₃, F₄, F₅, F₆, F₇, F₈, F₉, and F₁₀ generational crosses with the recurrent parental line.

Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL). Quantitative trait loci (QTL) refer to genetic loci that control to some degree numerically representable traits that are usually continuously distributed.

RVA viscosity. Rapid Visco Analyzer is a widely used laboratory instrument to examine paste viscosity, or thickening ability of milled rice during the cooking process.

RVU. The RVA scale is measured in RVUs. This is the native viscosity unit of the RVA. 1 RVU is equivalent to 12 CP. CP equals “centipoises” which equals unit of viscosity (kg s⁻¹ m⁻¹) and 1 kg s⁻¹ m⁻¹ equals 1000 centipoises.

Regeneration. Regeneration refers to the development of a plant from tissue culture.

Setback. Setback 1 is the final viscosity minus trough viscosity. Setback 2 is the final viscosity minus peak viscosity and is what is most commonly referred to for rice quality testing.

Single gene converted (Conversion). Single gene converted (conversion), also known as coisogenic plants, refers to plants which are developed by a plant breeding technique called backcrossing wherein essentially all of the desired morphological and physiological characteristics of a variety are recovered in addition to the single gene transferred into the variety via the backcrossing technique or via genetic engineering.

Stem rot. Is caused by the fungus Sclerotium oryzae Cattaneo (=Magnaporthe salvinii). It produces sheath and stem lesions that can reduce yield and grain quality. California varieties are generally rated between 4.5 and 7.5 on a scale of 0 to 10.

Trough viscosity. The minimum viscosity after the peak, normally occurring when the sample starts to cool.

Rice cultivar LaKast originated from the cross LaGrue/Katy/Starbonnet/3/LaGrue (cross no. 20001653) made in Stuttgart, Ark. in 2000 using a combination of modified pedigree, single seed descent and bulk breeding methods. Selection criteria used in the development of LaKast included high yield, good milling and earlier maturity than other high yielding lines. Parent line LaGrue is a high yielding long-grain rice described by Moldenhauer et al. 1994. Katy (Moldenhauer et al., 1990) is a blast resistant cultivar, and Starbonnet (Johnston et al. 1968) is a long grain cultivar. The experimental designation for early evaluation of LaKast was STG04L-18-043, starting with a bulk of F6 seed from the 2004 panicle row L-18-043, and was later given the experimental designation RU0801081. Rice cultivar LaKast was tested in the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials (ARPT) and the Cooperative Uniform Regional Rice Nursery (URRN) during 2008-2013 as entry RU0801081.

Rice cultivar LaKast is a very high-yielding, very-short season, long-grain rice cultivar with maturity similar to rice cultivar CL111. Plants of LaKast have erect culms, green erect leaves and glaborus lemma, palea, and leaf blades. The lemma and palea are straw colored with red and purple apiculi, many of which fade to straw at maturity.

Kernels of LaKast are the desired long-grain size averaging 7.60 mm for the locations of the 2009-2012 Arkansas Rice Performance Trials (ARPT) compared to Roy J, Wells and Taggart at 7.22, 7.25 and 7.48 mm/kernel, respectively. Individual milled kernel weights of LaKast, Roy J, Taggart, Templeton, Francis, Wells and Cheniere averaged 21.9, 20.7, 22.8, 19.0, 18.9, 20.9 and 19.0 mg/kernel, respectively, in the ARPT 2009-2012.

Rice cultivar LaKast is approximately 108 centimeters (cm) in height with straw strength similar to Francis or Wells, which is an indicator of lodging resistance. On a relative straw strength scale (0=very strong straw, 9=very weak straw), rice cultivars LaKast, Francis, Wells, LaGrue, Cocodrie and Roy J rated 4, 4, 3, 5, 2 and 1, respectively.

Rice cultivar LaKast, like Francis and LaGrue, is susceptible to common rice blast (Pyricularia grisea (Cooke) Sacc) races IB-1, IB-33, IB-49, IC-17, IE-1 and IE-1K, with summary ratings in greenhouse tests of 5, 7, 7, 6, 5 and 5, respectively, using the standard disease scale of 0=immune, 9=maximum disease susceptibility. LaKast is rated S to sheath blight (Rhizoctonia solani Kühn) which compares with Francis (MS), Wells (S), LaGrue (MS), Cybonnet (VS) and Cocodrie (S), using the standard disease ratings of R=resistant, MR=moderately resistant, MS=moderately susceptible, S=susceptible and VS=very susceptible to disease. LaKast is rated S for kernel smut (Tilletia barclayana (Bref.) Sacc. & Syd. In Sacc.), which compares to Francis (VS), Wells (S), LaGrue (VS), Cybonnet (S), Cocodrie (S) and Drew (MS).

Rice cultivar LaKast is rated S to stem rot, S to narrow brown leaf spot (Cercospora oryzae Miyake) and S to false smut (Ustilaginoidea vixens (Cooke) Takah). Like LaGrue, LaKast is moderately susceptible to crown (black) sheath rot. Rice cultivar LaKast is rated S to bacterial panicle blight and reaction to straighthead.

The rough rice grain yields of rice cultivar LaKast have consistently ranked as one of the highest in the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials (ARPT). In 30 ARPT tests (2008-2013), LaKast, Roy J, Taggart, Templeton, Francis, Wells and Cheniere averaged yields of 190, 195, 188, 169, 193, 183 and 165 bushels/acre, respectively. Data from the Cooperative Uniform Regional Rice Nursery (URRN) conducted at Arkansas during 2008-2013 showed that LaKast average grain yield of 218 bushels/acre compared favorably with those of Roy J, Taggart, Templeton, Francis, Wells and Cheniere at 201, 204, 180, 191, 185 and 184 bushels/acre, respectively.

Milling yields (mg g⁻¹ whole kernel:mg g⁻¹ total milled rice) at 120 mg g⁻¹ moisture from the ARPT, 2008-2013, averaged 600:700, 610:700, 570:700, 570:700, 620:700, 570:710 and 610:710 for LaKast, Roy J, Taggart, Templeton, Francis, Wells and Cheniere, respectively. Milling yields for the URRN in Arkansas during the same period of time, 2008-2013, averaged 570:700, 590:700, 570:700, 570:700, 560:700, 550:710 and 620:710 for LaKast, Roy J, Taggart, Templeton, Francis, Wells and Cheniere, respectively.

The endosperm of rice cultivar LaKast is nonglutinous, nonaromatic, and covered by a light brown pericarp. Rice quality parameters indicate that LaKast has typical southern U.S. long-grain rice cooking quality characteristics as described by Webb et al. 1985. Rice cultivar LaKast has an average apparent starch amylose content of 22.0 g kg⁻¹ and an intermediate gelatinization temperature (70-75° C.), as indicated by an average alkali (17 g kg⁻¹ KOH) spreading reaction of 3 to 5.

Rice cultivar LaKast has shown uniformity and stability as described in the following variety description information. It has been self-pollinated a sufficient number of generations with careful attention to uniformity of plant type. The line has been increased with continued observation for uniformity.

Rice cultivar LaKast has the following morphologic and other characteristics (based primarily on data collected in Arkansas).

TABLE 1 VARIETY DESCRIPTION INFORMATION Plant: Grain type: Long Days to maturity (50% heading): 84 Plant height: 108.0 cm Plant color (at booting): Green Culm: Angle (degrees from perpendicular after flowering): Erect (less than 30°) Flag leaf (after heading): Pubescence: Glabrous Leaf angle (after heading): Erect to intermediate Blade color (at heading): Green Panicle: Length: 27.0 cm Type: Intermediate Exsertion (near maturity): Moderately well (90%-99%) Axis: Droopy Shattering (at maturity): Low (1%-5%) Grain (spikelet): Awns (after full heading): Short and partly awned and long and partly awned Apiculus color (at maturity): Red, fading to straw Stigma color: White Lemma and palea color (at maturity): Straw Lemma and palea pubescence: Glabrous Grain (seed): Seed coat color: Light brown Endosperm type: Nonglutinous Scent: Nonscented Shape class (length/width ratio): Paddy: Long (3.4:1 and more) Brown: Long (3.1:1 and more) Milled: Long (3.0:1 and more) Size: 21.9 g/1000 seeds milled rice Starch amylose content: 22.0 g kg⁻¹ Alkali spreading value: 3 to 5 (17 g kg⁻¹ KOH Solution) Gelatinization temperature type: Intermediate (70° C. to 75° C.) Disease resistance: Rice blast (Pyricularia grisea (Cooke) Sacc.) races IB-1, IB-33, IB-49, IC-17, IE-1 and IE-1K: Susceptible Straighthead (physiological disorder): Moderately susceptible Kernel smut (Tilletia barclayana (Bref.) Sacc. & Syd. in Sacc.): Susceptible Sheath blight (Rhizoctonia solani Kühn): Susceptible False smut (Ustilaginoidea virens (Cooke) Takah.): Susceptible Bacterial panicle blight (Burkholderia glumae and B. gladioli): Susceptible Black sheath rot (Gaeumannomyces graminis var. graminis): Moderately susceptible

This invention also is directed to methods for producing a rice plant by crossing a first parent rice plant with a second parent rice plant wherein either the first or second parent rice plant is a rice plant of the line LaKast. Further, both first and second parent rice plants can come from the rice cultivar LaKast. Still further, this invention also is directed to methods for producing a rice cultivar LaKast-derived rice plant by crossing rice cultivar LaKast with a second rice plant and growing the progeny seed, and repeating the crossing and growing steps with the rice cultivar LaKast-derived plant from 0 to 7 times. Thus, any such methods using the rice cultivar LaKast are part of this invention: selfing, backcrosses, hybrid production, crosses to populations, and the like. All plants produced using rice cultivar LaKast as a parent are within the scope of this invention, including plants derived from rice cultivar LaKast. Advantageously, the rice cultivar is used in crosses with other, different, rice cultivars to produce first generation (F₁) rice seeds and plants with superior characteristics.

It should be understood that the cultivar can, through routine manipulation of cytoplasmic or other factors, be produced in a male-sterile form. Such embodiments are also contemplated within the scope of the present claims.

As used herein, the term plant includes plant cells, plant protoplasts, plant cell tissue cultures from which rice plants can be regenerated, plant calli, plant clumps and plant cells that are intact in plants or parts of plants, such as embryos, pollen, ovules, flowers, glumes, panicles, leaves, stems, roots, root tips, anthers, pistils and the like.

Further Embodiments of the Invention

Transformation Techniques:

With the advent of molecular biological techniques that have allowed the isolation and characterization of genes that encode specific protein products, scientists in the field of plant biology developed a strong interest in engineering the genome of plants to contain and express foreign genes, or additional, or modified versions of native, or endogenous, genes (perhaps driven by different promoters) in order to alter the traits of a plant in a specific manner. Such foreign additional and/or modified genes are referred to herein collectively as “transgenes”. Over the last fifteen to twenty years, several methods for producing transgenic plants have been developed, and the present invention, in particular embodiments, also relates to transformed versions of the claimed cultivar.

Culture for expressing desired structural genes and cultured cells are known in the art. Also as known in the art, rice is transformable and regenerable such that whole plants containing and expressing desired genes under regulatory control may be obtained. General descriptions of plant expression vectors and reporter genes and transformation protocols can be found in Gruber, et al., “Vectors for Plant Transformation”, in Methods in Plant Molecular Biology & Biotechnology in Glich, et al., (Eds. pp. 89-119, CRC Press, 1993). Moreover GUS expression vectors and GUS gene cassettes are available from Clone Tech Laboratories, Inc., Palo Alto, Calif. while luciferase expression vectors and luciferase gene cassettes are available from Pro Mega Corp. (Madison, Wis.). General methods of culturing plant tissues are provided for example by Maki, et al., “Procedures for Introducing Foreign DNA into Plants” in Methods in Plant Molecular Biology & Biotechnology, Glich, et al., (Eds. pp. 67-88 CRC Press, 1993); and by Phillips, et al., “Cell-Tissue Culture and In-Vitro Manipulation” in Corn & Corn Improvement, 3rd Edition; Sprague, et al., (Eds. pp. 345-387 American Society of Agronomy Inc., 1988). Methods of introducing expression vectors into plant tissue include the direct infection or co-cultivation of plant cells with Agrobacterium tumefaciens, described for example by Horsch et al., Science, 227:1229 (1985). Descriptions of Agrobacterium vector systems and methods for Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer are provided by Gruber, et al., supra.

Useful methods include but are not limited to expression vectors introduced into plant tissues using a direct gene transfer method such as microprojectile-mediated delivery, DNA injection, electroporation and the like. More preferably expression vectors are introduced into plant tissues using a microprojectile media delivery system with a biolistic device or using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transformant plants obtained with the protoplasm of the invention are intended to be within the scope of this invention.

Plant transformation involves the construction of an expression vector which will function in plant cells. Such a vector comprises DNA comprising a gene under control of or operatively linked to a regulatory element (for example, a promoter). The expression vector may contain one or more such operably linked gene/regulatory element combinations. The vector(s) may be in the form of a plasmid, and can be used alone or in combination with other plasmids, to provide transformed rice plants, using transformation methods as described below to incorporate transgenes into the genetic material of the rice plant(s).

Expression Vectors for Transformation: Marker Genes

Expression vectors include at least one genetic marker, operably linked to a regulatory element (a promoter, for example) that allows transformed cells containing the marker to be either recovered by negative selection, i.e., inhibiting growth of cells that do not contain the selectable marker gene, or by positive selection, i.e., screening for the product encoded by the genetic marker. Many commonly used selectable marker genes for plant transformation are well known in the transformation arts, and include, for example, genes that code for enzymes that metabolically detoxify a selective chemical agent which may be an antibiotic or an herbicide, or genes that encode an altered target which is insensitive to the inhibitor. A few positive selection methods are also known in the art.

One commonly used selectable marker gene for plant transformation is the neomycin phosphotransferase II (nptII) gene, isolated from transposon Tn5, which when placed under the control of plant regulatory signals confers resistance to kanamycin. Fraley et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 80:4803 (1983). Another commonly used selectable marker gene is the hygromycin phosphotransferase gene which confers resistance to the antibiotic hygromycin. Vanden Elzen et al., Plant Mol. Biol., 5:299 (1985).

Additional selectable marker genes of bacterial origin that confer resistance to antibiotics include gentamycin acetyl transferase, streptomycin phosphotransferase, and aminoglycoside-3′-adenyl transferase, the bleomycin resistance determinant. Hayford et al., Plant Physiol. 86:1216 (1988); Jones et al., Mol. Gen. Genet., 210:86 (1987); Svab et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 14:197 (1990); Hille et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 7:171 (1986). Other selectable marker genes confer resistance to herbicides such as glyphosate, glufosinate or bromoxynil. Comai et al., Nature 317:741-744 (1985), Gordon-Kamm et al., Plant Cell 2:603-618 (1990) and Stalker et al., Science 242:419-423 (1988).

Selectable marker genes for plant transformation not of bacterial origin include, for example, mouse dihydrofolate reductase, plant 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase and plant acetolactate synthase. Eichholtz et al., Somatic Cell Mol. Genet. 13:67 (1987), Shah et al., Science 233:478 (1986), Charest et al., Plant Cell Rep. 8:643 (1990).

Another class of marker genes for plant transformation requires screening of presumptively transformed plant cells rather than direct genetic selection of transformed cells for resistance to a toxic substance such as an antibiotic. These genes are particularly useful to quantify or visualize the spatial pattern of expression of a gene in specific tissues and are frequently referred to as reporter genes because they can be fused to a gene or gene regulatory sequence for the investigation of gene expression. Commonly used genes for screening presumptively transformed cells include β-glucuronidase (GUS, β-galactosidase, luciferase and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase. Jefferson, R. A., Plant Mol. Biol. Rep. 5:387 (1987), Teeri et al., EMBO J. 8:343 (1989), Koncz et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci U.S.A. 84:131 (1987), DeBlock et al., EMBO J. 3:1681 (1984). Another approach to the identification of relatively rare transformation events has been use of a gene that encodes a dominant constitutive regulator of the Zea mays anthocyanin pigmentation pathway. Ludwig et al., Science 247:449 (1990).

In vivo methods for visualizing GUS activity that do not require destruction of plant tissue are available. Molecular Probes publication 2908, IMAGENE GREEN, p. 1-4 (1993) and Naleway et al., J. Cell Biol. 115:151a (1991). However, these in vivo methods for visualizing GUS activity have not proven useful for recovery of transformed cells because of low sensitivity, high fluorescent backgrounds and limitations associated with the use of luciferase genes as selectable markers.

More recently, a gene encoding Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) has been utilized as a marker for gene expression in prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Chalfie et al., Science 263:802 (1994). GFP and mutants of GFP may be used as screenable markers.

Expression Vectors for Transformation: Promoters

Genes included in expression vectors must be driven by nucleotide sequence comprising a regulatory element, for example, a promoter. Several types of promoters are now well known in the transformation arts, as are other regulatory elements that can be used alone or in combination with promoters.

As used herein, “promoter” includes reference to a region of DNA upstream from the start of transcription and involved in recognition and binding of RNA polymerase and other proteins to initiate transcription. A “plant promoter” is a promoter capable of initiating transcription in plant cells. Examples of promoters under developmental control include promoters that preferentially initiate transcription in certain tissues, such as leaves, roots, seeds, fibers, xylem vessels, tracheids, or sclerenchyma. Such promoters are referred to as “tissue-preferred”. Promoters which initiate transcription only in certain tissue are referred to as “tissue-specific”. A “cell type” specific promoter primarily drives expression in certain cell types in one or more organs, for example, vascular cells in roots or leaves. An “inducible” promoter is a promoter which is under environmental control. Examples of environmental conditions that may effect transcription by inducible promoters include anaerobic conditions or the presence of light. Tissue-specific, tissue-preferred, cell type specific, and inducible promoters constitute the class of “non-constitutive” promoters. A “constitutive” promoter is a promoter which is active under most environmental conditions.

A. Inducible Promoters—An inducible promoter is operably linked to a gene for expression in rice. Optionally, the inducible promoter is operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding a signal sequence which is operably linked to a gene for expression in rice. With an inducible promoter the rate of transcription increases in response to an inducing agent.

Any inducible promoter can be used in the instant invention. See Ward et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 22:361-366 (1993). Exemplary inducible promoters include, but are not limited to, that from the ACEI system which responds to copper (Meft et al., PNAS 90:4567-4571 (1993)); In2 gene from maize which responds to benzenesulfonamide herbicide safeners (Hershey et al., Mol. Gen Genetics 227:229-237 (1991) and Gatz et al., Mol. Gen. Genetics 243:32-38 (1994)) or Tet repressor from Tn10 (Gatz et al., Mol. Gen. Genetics 227:229-237 (1991)). A particularly preferred inducible promoter is a promoter that responds to an inducing agent to which plants do not normally respond. An exemplary inducible promoter is the inducible promoter from a steroid hormone gene, the transcriptional activity of which is induced by a glucocorticosteroid hormone (Schena et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 88:0421 (1991)).

B. Constitutive Promoters—A constitutive promoter is operably linked to a gene for expression in rice or the constitutive promoter is operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding a signal sequence which is operably linked to a gene for expression in rice.

Many different constitutive promoters can be utilized in the instant invention. Exemplary constitutive promoters include, but are not limited to, the promoters from plant viruses such as the 35S promoter from CaMV (Odell et al., Nature 313:810-812 (1985)) and the promoters from such genes as rice actin (McElroy et al., Plant Cell 2:163-171 (1990)); ubiquitin (Christensen et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 12:619-632 (1989) and Christensen et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 18:675-689 (1992)); pEMU (Last et al., Theor. Appl. Genet. 81:581-588 (1991)); MAS (Velten et al., EMBO J. 3:2723-2730 (1984)) and maize H3 histone (Lepetit et al., Mol. Gen. Genetics 231:276-285 (1992) and Atanassova et al., Plant Journal 2 (3): 291-300 (1992)).

The ALS promoter, Xba1/Nco1 fragment 5′ to the Brassica napus ALS3 structural gene (or a nucleotide sequence similarity to said Xba1/Nco1 fragment), represents a particularly useful constitutive promoter. See PCT application WO96/30530.

C. Tissue-specific or Tissue-preferred Promoters—A tissue-specific promoter is operably linked to a gene for expression in rice. Optionally, the tissue-specific promoter is operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding a signal sequence which is operably linked to a gene for expression in rice. Plants transformed with a gene of interest operably linked to a tissue-specific promoter produce the protein product of the transgene exclusively, or preferentially, in a specific tissue.

Any tissue-specific or tissue-preferred promoter can be utilized in the instant invention. Exemplary tissue-specific or tissue-preferred promoters include, but are not limited to, a root-preferred promoter, such as that from the phaseolin gene (Murai et al., Science 23:476-482 (1983) and Sengupta-Gopalan et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 82:3320-3324 (1985)); a leaf-specific and light-induced promoter such as that from cab or rubisco (Simpson et al., EMBO J. 4(11):2723-2729 (1985) and Timko et al., Nature 318:579-582 (1985)); an anther-specific promoter such as that from LAT52 (Twell et al., Mol. Gen. Genetics 217:240-245 (1989)); a pollen-specific promoter such as that from Zm13 (Guerrero et al., Mol. Gen. Genetics 244:161-168 (1993)) or a microspore-preferred promoter such as that from apg (Twell et al., Sex. Plant Reprod. 6:217-224 (1993)).

Signal Sequences for Targeting Proteins to Subcellular Compartments

Transport of protein produced by transgenes to a subcellular compartment such as the chloroplast, vacuole, peroxisome, glyoxysome, cell wall or mitochondrion or for secretion into the apoplast, is accomplished by means of operably linking the nucleotide sequence encoding a signal sequence to the 5′ and/or 3′ region of a gene encoding the protein of interest. Targeting sequences at the 5′ and/or 3′ end of the structural gene may determine, during protein synthesis and processing, where the encoded protein is ultimately compartmentalized.

The presence of a signal sequence directs a polypeptide to either an intracellular organelle or subcellular compartment or for secretion to the apoplast. Many signal sequences are known in the art. See, for example Becker et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 20:49 (1992); Close, P. S., Master's Thesis, Iowa State University (1993); Knox, C., et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 9:3-17 (1987); Lerner et al., Plant Physiol. 91:124-129 (1989); Fontes et al., Plant Cell 3:483-496 (1991); Matsuoka et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 88:834 (1991); Gould et al., J. Cell. Biol. 108:1657 (1989); Creissen et al., Plant J. 2:129 (1991); Kalderon, et al., Cell 39:499-509 (1984); Steifel, et al., Plant Cell 2:785-793 (1990).

Foreign Protein Genes and Agronomic Genes

With transgenic plants according to the present invention, a foreign protein can be produced in commercial quantities. Thus, techniques for the selection and propagation of transformed plants, which are well understood in the art, yield a plurality of transgenic plants which are harvested in a conventional manner, and a foreign protein then can be extracted from a tissue of interest or from total biomass. Protein extraction from plant biomass can be accomplished by known methods which are discussed, for example, by Heney and Orr, Anal. Biochem. 114:92-6 (1981).

According to a preferred embodiment, the transgenic plant provided for commercial production of foreign protein is rice. In another preferred embodiment, the biomass of interest is seed. For the relatively small number of transgenic plants that show higher levels of expression, a genetic map can be generated, primarily via conventional RFLP, PCR and SSR analysis, which identifies the approximate chromosomal location of the integrated DNA molecule. For exemplary methodologies in this regard, see Glick and Thompson, Methods in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology CRC Press, Boca Raton 269:284 (1993). Map information concerning chromosomal location is useful for proprietary protection of a subject transgenic plant. If unauthorized propagation is undertaken and crosses made with other germplasm, the map of the integration region can be compared to similar maps for suspect plants, to determine if the latter have a common parentage with the subject plant. Map comparisons would involve hybridizations, RFLP, PCR, SSR and sequencing, all of which are conventional techniques.

Likewise, by means of the present invention, agronomic genes can be expressed in transformed plants. More particularly, plants can be genetically engineered to express various phenotypes of agronomic interest. Exemplary genes implicated in this regard include, but are not limited to, those categorized below:

1. Genes that Confer Resistance to Pests or Disease and that Encode:

A. Plant disease resistance genes. Plant defences are often activated by specific interaction between the product of a disease resistance gene (R) in the plant and the product of a corresponding avirulence (Avr) gene in the pathogen. A plant cultivar can be transformed with cloned resistance gene to engineer plants that are resistant to specific pathogen strains. See, for example Jones et al., Science 266:789 (1994) (cloning of the tomato Cf-9 gene for resistance to Cladosporium fulvum); Martin et al., Science 262:1432 (1993) (tomato Pto gene for resistance to Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato encodes a protein kinase); Mindrinos et al., Cell 78:1089 (1994) (Arabidopsis RSP2 gene for resistance to Pseudomonas syringae).

B. A Bacillus thuringiensis protein, a derivative thereof or a synthetic polypeptide modeled thereon. See, for example, Geiser et al., Gene 48:109 (1986), who disclose the cloning and nucleotide sequence of a Bt δ-endotoxin gene. Moreover, DNA molecules encoding δ-endotoxin genes can be purchased from American Type Culture Collection, Manassas, Va., for example, under ATCC Accession Nos. 40098, 67136, 31995 and 31998.

C. A lectin. See, for example, the disclosure by Van Damme et al., Plant Molec. Biol. 24:25 (1994), who disclose the nucleotide sequences of several Clivia miniata mannose-binding lectin genes.

D. A vitamin-binding protein such as avidin. See PCT application US93/06487. The application teaches the use of avidin and avidin homologues as larvicides against insect pests.

E. An enzyme inhibitor, for example, a protease or proteinase inhibitor or an amylase inhibitor. See, for example, Abe et al., J. Biol. Chem. 262:16793 (1987) (nucleotide sequence of rice cysteine proteinase inhibitor), Huub et al., Plant Molec. Biol. 21:985 (1993) (nucleotide sequence of cDNA encoding tobacco proteinase inhibitor I), Sumitani et al., Biosci. Biotech. Biochem. 57:1243 (1993) (nucleotide sequence of Streptomyces nitrosporeus α-amylase inhibitor).

F. An insect-specific hormone or pheromone such as an ecdysteroid and juvenile hormone, a variant thereof, a mimetic based thereon, or an antagonist or agonist thereof. See, for example, the disclosure by Hammock et al., Nature 344:458 (1990), of baculovirus expression of cloned juvenile hormone esterase, an inactivator of juvenile hormone.

G. An insect-specific peptide or neuropeptide which, upon expression, disrupts the physiology of the affected pest. For example, see the disclosures of Regan, J. Biol. Chem. 269:9 (1994) (expression cloning yields DNA coding for insect diuretic hormone receptor), and Pratt et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. 163:1243 (1989) (an allostatin is identified in Diploptera puntata). See also U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,317 to Tomalski et al., who disclose genes encoding insect-specific, paralytic neurotoxins.

H. An insect-specific venom produced in nature by a snake, a wasp, etc. For example, see Pang et al., Gene 116:165 (1992), for disclosure of heterologous expression in plants of a gene coding for a scorpion insectotoxic peptide.

I. An enzyme responsible for a hyper-accumulation of a monoterpene, a sesquiterpene, a steroid, a hydroxamic acid, a phenylpropanoid derivative or another non-protein molecule with insecticidal activity.

J. An enzyme involved in the modification, including the post-translational modification, of a biologically active molecule; for example, a glycolytic enzyme, a proteolytic enzyme, a lipolytic enzyme, a nuclease, a cyclase, a transaminase, an esterase, a hydrolase, a phosphatase, a kinase, a phosphorylase, a polymerase, an elastase, a chitinase and a glucanase, whether natural or synthetic. See PCT application WO 93/02197 in the name of Scott et al., which discloses the nucleotide sequence of a callase gene. DNA molecules which contain chitinase-encoding sequences can be obtained, for example, from the ATCC under Accession Nos. 39637 and 67152. See also Kramer et al., Insect Biochem. Molec. Biol. 23:691 (1993), who teach the nucleotide sequence of a cDNA encoding tobacco hornworm chitinase, and Kawalleck et al., Plant Molec. Biol. 21:673 (1993), who provide the nucleotide sequence of the parsley ubi4-2 polyubiquitin gene.

K. A molecule that stimulates signal transduction. For example, see the disclosure by Botella et al., Plant Molec. Biol. 24:757 (1994), of nucleotide sequences for mung bean calmodulin cDNA clones, and Griess et al., Plant Physiol. 104:1467 (1994), who provide the nucleotide sequence of a maize calmodulin cDNA clone.

L. A hydrophobic moment peptide. See PCT application WO95/16776 (disclosure of peptide derivatives of Tachyplesin which inhibit fungal plant pathogens) and PCT application WO95/18855 (teaches synthetic antimicrobial peptides that confer disease resistance), the respective contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

M. A membrane permease, a channel former or a channel blocker. For example, see the disclosure of Jaynes et al., Plant Sci 89:43 (1993), of heterologous expression of a cecropin-β, lytic peptide analog to render transgenic tobacco plants resistant to Pseudomonas solanacearum.

N. A viral-invasive protein or a complex toxin derived therefrom. For example, the accumulation of viral coat proteins in transformed plant cells imparts resistance to viral infection and/or disease development effected by the virus from which the coat protein gene is derived, as well as by related viruses. See Beachy et al., Ann. Rev. Phytopathol. 28:451 (1990). Coat protein-mediated resistance has been conferred upon transformed plants against alfalfa mosaic virus, cucumber mosaic virus, tobacco streak virus, potato virus X, potato virus Y, tobacco etch virus, tobacco rattle virus and tobacco mosaic virus. Id.

O. An insect-specific antibody or an immunotoxin derived therefrom. Thus, an antibody targeted to a critical metabolic function in the insect gut would inactivate an affected enzyme, killing the insect. Cf. Taylor et al., Abstract #497, Seventh Int'l Symposium on Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions (Edinburgh, Scotland) (1994) (enzymatic inactivation in transgenic tobacco via production of single-chain antibody fragments).

P. A virus-specific antibody. See, for example, Tavladoraki et al., Nature 366:469 (1993), who show that transgenic plants expressing recombinant antibody genes are protected from virus attack.

Q. A developmental-arrestive protein produced in nature by a pathogen or a parasite. Thus, fungal endo-α-1,4-D-polygalacturonases facilitate fungal colonization and plant nutrient release by solubilizing plant cell wall homo-α-1,4-D-galacturonase. See Lamb et al., Bio/Technology 10:1436 (1992). The cloning and characterization of a gene which encodes a bean endopolygalacturonase-inhibiting protein is described by Toubart et al., Plant J. 2:367 (1992).

R. A developmental-arrestive protein produced in nature by a plant. For example, Logemann et al., Bio/Technology 10:305 (1992), have shown that transgenic plants expressing the barley ribosome-inactivating gene have an increased resistance to fungal disease.

2. Genes that Confer Resistance to an Herbicide, for Example:

A. An herbicide that inhibits the growing point or meristem, such as an imidazolinone or a sulfonylurea. Exemplary genes in this category code for mutant ALS and AHAS enzyme as described, for example, by Lee et al., EMBO J. 7:1241 (1988), and Miki et al., Theor. Appl. Genet. 80:449 (1990), respectively.

B. Glyphosate (resistance conferred by mutant 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSP) and aroA genes, respectively) and other phosphono compounds such as glufosinate (phosphinothricin acetyl transferase (PAT) and Streptomyces hygroscopicus PAT, bar, genes), and pyridinoxy or phenoxy propionic acids and cyclohexones (ACCase inhibitor-encoding genes). See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,835 to Shah, et al., which discloses the nucleotide sequence of a form of EPSP which can confer glyphosate resistance. A DNA molecule encoding a mutant aroA gene can be obtained under ATCC accession number 39256, and the nucleotide sequence of the mutant gene is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,061 to Comai. European patent application No. 0 333 033 to Kumada et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,374 to Goodman et al., disclose nucleotide sequences of glutamine synthetase genes which confer resistance to herbicides such as L-phosphinothricin. The nucleotide sequence of a PAT gene is provided in European application No. 0 242 246 to Leemans et al. DeGreef et al., Bio/Technology 7:61 (1989), describe the production of transgenic plants that express chimeric bar genes coding for PAT activity. Exemplary of genes conferring resistance to phenoxy propionic acids and cyclohexones, such as sethoxydim and haloxyfop are the Acc1-S1, Acc1-S2 and Acc1-S3 genes described by Marshall et al., Theor. Appl. Genet. 83:435 (1992).

C. An herbicide that inhibits photosynthesis, such as a triazine (psbA and gs+ genes) or a benzonitrile (nitrilase gene). Przibilla et al., Plant Cell 3:169 (1991), describe the transformation of Chlamydomonas with plasmids encoding mutant psbA genes. Nucleotide sequences for nitrilase genes are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,648 to Stalker, and DNA molecules containing these genes are available under ATCC Accession Nos. 53435, 67441, and 67442. Cloning and expression of DNA coding for a glutathione S-transferase is described by Hayes et al., Biochem. J. 285:173 (1992).

3. Genes that Confer or Contribute to a Value-Added Trait, Such as:

A. Modified fatty acid metabolism, for example, by transforming a plant with an antisense gene of stearyl-ACP desaturase to increase stearic acid content of the plant. See Knultzon et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 89:2624 (1992).

B. Decreased phytate content, 1) Introduction of a phytase-encoding gene would enhance breakdown of phytate, adding more free phosphate to the transformed plant. For example, see Van Hartingsveldt et al., Gene 127:87 (1993), for a disclosure of the nucleotide sequence of an Aspergillus niger phytase gene; 2) A gene could be introduced that reduced phytate content. In maize, this, for example, could be accomplished, by cloning and then reintroducing DNA associated with the single allele which is responsible for maize mutants characterized by low levels of phytic acid. See Raboy et al., Maydica 35:383 (1990).

C. Modified carbohydrate composition effected, for example, by transforming plants with a gene coding for an enzyme that alters the branching pattern of starch. See Shiroza et al., J. Bacteol. 170:810 (1988) (nucleotide sequence of Streptococcus mutants fructosyltransferase gene), Steinmetz et al., Mol. Gen. Genet. 20:220 (1985) (nucleotide sequence of Bacillus subtilis levansucrase gene), Pen et al., Bio/Technology 10:292 (1992) (production of transgenic plants that express Bacillus licheniformis α-amylase), Elliot et al., Plant Molec. Biol. 21:515 (1993) (nucleotide sequences of tomato invertase genes), Søgaard et al., J. Biol. Chem. 268:22480 (1993) (site-directed mutagenesis of barley α-amylase gene), and Fisher et al., Plant Physiol. 102:1045 (1993) (maize endosperm starch branching enzyme II).

Methods for Transformation

Numerous methods for plant transformation have been developed, including biological and physical, plant transformation protocols. See, for example, Miki et al., “Procedures for Introducing Foreign DNA into Plants” in Methods in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Glick B. R. and Thompson, J. E. Eds. (CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, 1993) pages 67-88. In addition, expression vectors and in vitro culture methods for plant cell or tissue transformation and regeneration of plants are available. See, for example, Gruber et al., “Vectors for Plant Transformation” in Methods in Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Glick B. R. and Thompson, J. E. Eds. (CRC Press, Inc., Boca Raton, 1993) pages 89-119.

A. Agrobacterium-mediated Transformation—One method for introducing an expression vector into plants is based on the natural transformation system of Agrobacterium. See, for example, Horsch et al., Science 227:1229 (1985). A. tumefaciens and A. rhizogenes are plant pathogenic soil bacteria which genetically transform plant cells. The Ti and Ri plasmids of A. tumefaciens and A. rhizogenes, respectively, carry genes responsible for genetic transformation of the plant. See, for example, Kado, C. I., Crit. Rev. Plant Sci. 10:1 (1991). Descriptions of Agrobacterium vector systems and methods for Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer are provided by Gruber et al., supra, Miki et al., supra, and Moloney et al., Plant Cell Reports 8:238 (1989). See also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,616 issued Jan. 7, 1997.

B. Direct Gene Transfer—Despite the fact the host range for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation is broad, some major cereal crop species and gymnosperms have generally been recalcitrant to this mode of gene transfer, even though some success has recently been achieved in rice and corn. Hiei et al., The Plant Journal 6:271-282 (1994) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,591,616 issued Jan. 7, 1997. Several methods of plant transformation collectively referred to as direct gene transfer, have been developed as an alternative to Agrobacterium-mediated transformation.

A generally applicable method of plant transformation is microprojectile-mediated transformation wherein DNA is carried on the surface of microprojectiles measuring 1 to 4 μm. The expression vector is introduced into plant tissues with a biolistic device that accelerates the microprojectiles to speeds of 300 to 600 m/s which is sufficient to penetrate plant cell walls and membranes. Sanford et al., Part. Sci. Technol. 5:27 (1987), Sanford, J. C., Trends Biotech. 6:299 (1988), Klein et al., Bio/Technology 6:559-563 (1988), Sanford, J. C., Physiol Plant 7:206 (1990), Klein et al., Biotechnology 10:268 (1992). In corn, several target tissues can be bombarded with DNA-coated microprojectiles in order to produce transgenic plants, including, for example, callus (Type I or Type II), immature embryos, and meristematic tissue.

Another method for physical delivery of DNA to plants is sonication of target cells. Zhang et al., Bio/Technology 9:996 (1991). Additionally, liposome and spheroplast fusion have been used to introduce expression vectors into plants. Deshayes et al., EMBO J., 4:2731 (1985), Christou et al., Proc Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 84:3962 (1987). Direct uptake of DNA into protoplasts using CaCl₂ precipitation, polyvinyl alcohol or poly-L-ornithine has also been reported. Hain et al., Mol. Gen. Genet. 199:161 (1985) and Draper et al., Plant Cell Physiol. 23:451 (1982). Electroporation of protoplasts and whole cells and tissues have also been described. Donn et al., In Abstracts of VIIth International Congress on Plant Cell and Tissue Culture IAPTC, A2-38, p 53 (1990); D'Halluin et al., Plant Cell 4:1495-1505 (1992) and Spencer et al., Plant Mol. Biol. 24:51-61 (1994).

Following transformation of rice target tissues, expression of the above-described selectable marker genes allows for preferential selection of transformed cells, tissues and/or plants, using regeneration and selection methods now well known in the art.

The foregoing methods for transformation would typically be used for producing a transgenic cultivar. The transgenic cultivar could then be crossed, with another (non-transformed or transformed) cultivar, in order to produce a new transgenic cultivar. Alternatively, a genetic trait which has been engineered into a particular rice cultivar using the foregoing transformation techniques could be moved into another cultivar using traditional backcrossing techniques that are well known in the plant breeding arts. For example, a backcrossing approach could be used to move an engineered trait from a public, non-elite cultivar into an elite cultivar, or from a cultivar containing a foreign gene in its genome into a cultivar which does not contain that gene. As used herein, “crossing” can refer to a simple X by Y cross, or the process of backcrossing, depending on the context.

Single Gene Conversion

When the term rice plant is used in the context of the present invention, this also includes any single gene conversions of that cultivar. The term single gene converted plant as used herein refers to those rice plants which are developed by a plant breeding technique called backcrossing wherein essentially all of the desired morphological and physiological characteristics of a cultivar are recovered in addition to the single gene transferred into the cultivar via the backcrossing technique. Backcrossing methods can be used with the present invention to improve or introduce a characteristic into the cultivar. The term backcrossing as used herein refers to the repeated crossing of a hybrid progeny back to one of the parental rice plants, the recurrent parent, for that cultivar, i.e., backcrossing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 or more times to the recurrent parent. The parental rice plant which contributes the gene for the desired characteristic is termed the nonrecurrent or donor parent. This terminology refers to the fact that the nonrecurrent parent is used one time in the backcross protocol and therefore does not recur. The parental rice plant to which the gene or genes from the nonrecurrent parent are transferred is known as the recurrent parent as it is used for several rounds in the backcrossing protocol (Poehlman & Sleper, 1994; Fehr, 1987). In a typical backcross protocol, the original cultivar of interest (recurrent parent) is crossed to a second cultivar (nonrecurrent parent) that carries the single gene of interest to be transferred. The resulting progeny from this cross are then crossed again to the recurrent parent and the process is repeated until a rice plant is obtained wherein essentially all of the desired morphological and physiological characteristics of the recurrent parent are recovered in the converted plant, in addition to the single transferred gene from the nonrecurrent parent as determined at the 5% significance level when grown in the same environmental conditions.

The selection of a suitable recurrent parent is an important step for a successful backcrossing procedure. The goal of a backcross protocol is to alter or substitute a single trait or characteristic in the original cultivar. To accomplish this, a single gene of the recurrent cultivar is modified or substituted with the desired gene from the nonrecurrent parent, while retaining essentially all of the rest of the desired genetic, and therefore the desired physiological and morphological, constitution of the original cultivar. The choice of the particular nonrecurrent parent will depend on the purpose of the backcross; one of the major purposes is to add some commercially desirable, agronomically important trait to the plant. The exact backcrossing protocol will depend on the characteristic or trait being altered to determine an appropriate testing protocol. Although backcrossing methods are simplified when the characteristic being transferred is a dominant allele, a recessive allele may also be transferred. In this instance it may be necessary to introduce a test of the progeny to determine if the desired characteristic has been successfully transferred.

Many single gene traits have been identified that are not regularly selected for in the development of a new cultivar but that can be improved by backcrossing techniques. Single gene traits may or may not be transgenic, examples of these traits include but are not limited to, male sterility, waxy starch, herbicide resistance, resistance for bacterial, fungal, or viral disease, insect resistance, male fertility, enhanced nutritional quality, industrial usage, yield stability and yield enhancement. These genes are generally inherited through the nucleus. Some known exceptions to this are the genes for male sterility, some of which are inherited cytoplasmically, but still act as single gene traits. Several of these single gene traits are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,777,196; 5,948,957 and 5,969,212, the disclosures of which are specifically hereby incorporated by reference.

Tissue Culture

Further reproduction of the variety can occur by tissue culture and regeneration. Tissue culture of various tissues of rice and regeneration of plants therefrom is well known and widely published. For example, reference may be had to Komatsuda, T. et al., Crop Sci. 31:333-337 (1991); Stephens, P. A., et al., Theor. Appl. Genet. (1991) 82:633-635; Komatsuda, T. et al., Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture, 28:103-113 (1992); Dhir, S. et al., Plant Cell Reports (1992) 11:285-289; Pandey, P. et al., Japan J. Breed. 42:1-5 (1992); and Shetty, K., et al., Plant Science 81:245-251 (1992); as well as U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,944 issued Jun. 18, 1991 to Collins et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,200 issued Apr. 16, 1991 to Ranch et al. Thus, another aspect of this invention is to provide cells which upon growth and differentiation produce rice plants having the physiological and morphological characteristics of rice variety LaKast.

As used herein, the term “tissue culture” indicates a composition comprising isolated cells of the same or a different type or a collection of such cells organized into parts of a plant. Exemplary types of tissue cultures are protoplasts, calli, plant clumps, and plant cells that can generate tissue culture that are intact in plants or parts of plants, such as embryos, pollen, flowers, seeds, pods, leaves, stems, roots, root tips, anthers, and the like. Means for preparing and maintaining plant tissue culture are well known in the art. By way of example, a tissue culture comprising organs has been used to produce regenerated plants. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,959,185; 5,973,234 and 5,977,445 describe certain techniques, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

As used herein, the term “plant” includes plant cells, plant protoplasts, plant cells of tissue culture from which rice plants can be regenerated, plant calli, plant clumps, and plant cells that are intact in plants or parts of plants, such as pollen, flowers, embryos, ovules, seeds, pods, leaves, stems, pistils, anthers and the like. Thus, another aspect of this invention is to provide for cells which upon growth and differentiation produce a cultivar having essentially all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of LaKast.

The present invention contemplates a rice plant regenerated from a tissue culture of a variety (e.g., LaKast) or hybrid plant of the present invention. As is well known in the art, tissue culture of rice can be used for the in vitro regeneration of a rice plant. Tissue culture of various tissues of rice and regeneration of plants therefrom is well known and widely published. For example, reference may be had to Chu, Q. R., et al., (1999) “Use of bridging parents with high anther culturability to improve plant regeneration and breeding value in rice”, Rice Biotechnology Quarterly 38:25-26; Chu, Q. R., et al., (1998), “A novel plant regeneration medium for rice anther culture of Southern U.S. crosses”, Rice Biotechnology Quarterly 35:15-16; Chu, Q. R., et al., (1997), “A novel basal medium for embryogenic callus induction of Southern US crosses”, Rice Biotechnology Quarterly 32:19-20; and Oono, K., “Broadening the Genetic Variability By Tissue Culture Methods”, Jap. J. Breed. 33 (Suppl. 2), 306-307, illus. 1983. Thus, another aspect of this invention is to provide cells which upon growth and differentiation produce rice plants having the physiological and morphological characteristics of variety LaKast.

Duncan, et al., Planta 165:322-332 (1985) reflects that 97% of the plants cultured that produced callus were capable of plant regeneration. Subsequent experiments with both cultivars and hybrids produced 91% regenerable callus that produced plants. In a further study in 1988, Songstad, et al., Plant Cell Reports 7:262-265 (1988), reports several media additions that enhance regenerability of callus of two cultivars. Other published reports also indicated that “non-traditional” tissues are capable of producing somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration. K. P. Rao et al., Maize Genetics Cooperation Newsletter, 60:64-65 (1986), refers to somatic embryogenesis from glume callus cultures and B. V. Conger, et al., Plant Cell Reports, 6:345-347 (1987) indicates somatic embryogenesis from the tissue cultures of corn leaf segments. Thus, it is clear from the literature that the state of the art is such that these methods of obtaining plants are routinely used and have a very high rate of success. Thus, another aspect of this invention is to provide cells which upon growth and differentiation produce rice plants having the physiological and morphological characteristics of rice cultivar LaKast.

The utility of rice cultivar LaKast also extends to crosses with other species. Commonly, suitable species will be of the family Graminaceae, and especially of the genera Zea, Tripsacum, Croix, Schlerachne, Polytoca, Chionachne, and Trilobachne, of the tribe Maydeae.

Additional Breeding Methods

Although specific breeding objectives vary somewhat in the different regions, increasing yield is a primary objective in all programs. Grain yield of rice is determined by the number of panicles per unit area, the number of fertile florets per panicle, and grain weight per floret. Increases in any or all of these yield components may provide a mechanism to obtain higher yields. Heritable variation exists for all of these components, and breeders may directly or indirectly select for increases in any of them.

There are numerous steps in the development of any novel, desirable plant germplasm. Plant breeding begins with the analysis and definition of problems and weaknesses of the current germplasm, the establishment of program goals, and the definition of specific breeding objectives. The next step is selection of germplasm that possess the traits to meet the program goals. The goal is to combine in a single variety an improved combination of desirable traits from the parental germplasm. These important traits may include higher seed yield, resistance to diseases and insects, better stems and roots, tolerance to low temperatures, and better grain quality including improve physical appearance, cooking and taste characteristics, and milling yield (% whole kernel milled rice or head rice and % total milled rice).

Choice of breeding or selection methods depends on the mode of plant reproduction, the heritability of the trait(s) being improved, and the type of cultivar used commercially (e.g., F₁ hybrid cultivar, pureline cultivar, etc.). For highly heritable traits, a choice of superior individual plants evaluated at a single location will be effective, whereas for traits with low heritability, selection should be based on mean values obtained from replicated evaluations of families of related plants. Popular selection methods commonly include pedigree selection, modified pedigree selection, mass selection, and recurrent selection, or a combination of these methods.

The complexity of inheritance influences choice of the breeding method. Backcross breeding is used to transfer one or a few favorable genes for a highly heritable trait into a desirable cultivar. This approach has been used extensively for breeding disease-resistant cultivars. Various recurrent selection techniques are used to improve quantitatively inherited traits controlled by numerous genes. The use of recurrent selection in self-pollinating crops depends on the ease of pollination, the frequency of successful hybrids from each pollination, and the number of hybrid offspring from each successful cross.

Promising advanced breeding lines are thoroughly tested and compared to appropriate standards in environments representative of the commercial target area(s) for three or more years. The best lines are candidates for new commercial cultivars; those still deficient in a few traits may be used as parents to produce new populations for further selection.

These processes, which lead to the final step of marketing and distribution, usually take from 8 to 12 years from the time the first cross is made and may rely on the development of improved breeding lines as precursors. Therefore, development of new cultivars is a time-consuming process that requires precise forward planning, efficient use of resources, and a minimum of changes in direction.

A most difficult task is the identification of individuals that are genetically superior, because for most traits the true genotypic value is masked by other confounding plant traits or environmental factors. One method of identifying a superior plant is to observe its performance relative to other experimental plants and to a widely grown standard cultivar. If a single observation is inconclusive, replicated observations provide a better estimate of its genetic worth.

The goal of rice plant breeding is to develop new, unique and superior rice cultivars and hybrids. The breeder initially selects and crosses two or more parental lines, followed by self-pollination and selection, producing many new genetic combinations. The breeder can theoretically generate billions of different genetic combinations via crossing, selfing and mutations. The breeder has no direct control at the cellular level. Therefore, two breeders will never develop the same line, or even very similar lines, having the same rice traits.

Each year, the plant breeder selects the germplasm to advance to the next generation. This germplasm is grown under unique and different geographical, climatic and soil conditions and further selections are then made, during and at the end of the growing season. The cultivars which are developed are unpredictable. This unpredictability is because the breeder's selection occurs in unique environments, with no control at the DNA level (using conventional breeding procedures), and with millions of different possible genetic combinations being generated. A breeder of ordinary skill in the art cannot predict the final resulting lines he develops, except possibly in a very gross and general fashion. The same breeder cannot produce the same cultivar twice by using the exact same original parents and the same selection techniques. This unpredictability results in the expenditure of large amounts of research monies to develop superior new rice cultivars.

The development of new rice cultivars requires the development and selection of rice varieties, the crossing of these varieties and selection of superior hybrid crosses. The hybrid seed is produced by manual crosses between selected male-fertile parents or by using male sterility systems. These hybrids are selected for certain single gene traits such as semi-dwarf plant type, pubescence, awns, and apiculus color which indicate that the seed is truly a hybrid. Additional data on parental lines, as well as the phenotype of the hybrid, influence the breeder's decision whether to continue with the specific hybrid cross.

Pedigree breeding and recurrent selection breeding methods are used to develop cultivars from breeding populations. Breeding programs combine desirable traits from two or more cultivars or various broad-based sources into breeding pools from which cultivars are developed by selfing and selection of desired phenotypes. The new cultivars are evaluated to determine which have commercial potential.

Pedigree breeding is used commonly for the improvement of self-pollinating crops. Two parents which possess favorable, complementary traits are crossed to produce an F₁. An F₂ population is produced by selfing one or several F₁'s. Selection of the best individuals may begin with evaluation of F₁ plants, continue with selection of F₂ plants, and on in the F₃, where the best individuals in the best families are selected and advanced. Replicated testing of families can begin in the F₄ generation to improve the effectiveness of selection for traits with low heritability. At an advanced stage of inbreeding (i.e., F₆ and F₇), the best lines or mixtures of phenotypically similar lines are tested for potential release as new cultivars.

Mass and recurrent selections can be used to improve populations of either self- or cross-pollinating crops. A genetically variable population of heterozygous individuals is either identified or created by intercrossing several different parents. The best plants are selected based on individual superiority, outstanding progeny, or excellent combining ability. The selected plants are intercrossed to produce a new population in which further cycles of selection are continued.

Backcross breeding has been used to transfer genes for a simply inherited, highly heritable trait into a desirable homozygous cultivar or inbred line which is the recurrent parent. The source of the trait to be transferred is called the donor parent. The resulting plant is expected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g., cultivar) and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent. After the initial cross, individuals possessing the phenotype of the donor parent are selected and repeatedly crossed (backcrossed) to the recurrent parent. The resulting plant is expected to have the attributes of the recurrent parent (e.g., cultivar) and the desirable trait transferred from the donor parent.

The single-seed descent procedure in the strict sense refers to planting a segregating population, harvesting a sample of one seed per plant, and using the one-seed sample to plant the next generation. When the population has been advanced from the F₂ to the desired level of inbreeding, the plants from which lines are derived will each trace to different F₂ individuals. The number of plants in a population declines each generation due to failure of some seeds to germinate or some plants to produce at least one seed. As a result, not all of the F₂ plants originally sampled in the population will be represented by a progeny when generation advance is completed.

In a multiple-seed procedure, rice breeders commonly harvest one or more seeds from each plant in a population and thresh them together to form a bulk. Part of the bulk is used to plant the next generation and part is put in reserve. The procedure has been referred to as modified single-seed descent or the pod-bulk technique.

The multiple-seed procedure has been used to save labor at harvest. It is considerably faster to thresh panicles with a machine than to remove one seed from each by hand for the single-seed procedure. The multiple-seed procedure also makes it possible to plant the same number of seeds of a population each generation of inbreeding. Enough seeds are harvested to make up for those plants that did not germinate or produce seed.

Descriptions of other breeding methods that are commonly used for different traits and crops can be found in one of several reference books (e.g., Allard, 1960; Simmonds, 1979; Sneep et al., 1979; Fehr, 1987; Marshall and Wadsworth, 1994; Champagne, 2004).

Proper testing should detect any major faults and establish the level of superiority or improvement over current cultivars. In addition to showing superior performance, there must be a demand for a new cultivar that is compatible with industry standards or which creates a new market. The introduction of a new cultivar will incur additional costs to the seed producer, the grower, processor and consumer; for special advertising and marketing, altered seed and commercial production practices, and new product utilization. The testing preceding release of a new cultivar should take into consideration research and development costs as well as technical superiority of the final cultivar. For seed-propagated cultivars, it must be feasible to produce seed easily and economically.

This invention also is directed to methods for producing a rice plant by crossing a first parent rice plant with a second parent rice plant wherein the first or second parent rice plant is a rice plant of the variety LaKast. Further, both first and second parent rice plants can come from the rice variety LaKast. Thus, any such methods using the rice variety LaKast are part of this invention: selfing, backcrosses, hybrid production, crosses to populations, and the like. All plants produced using rice variety LaKast as a parent are within the scope of this invention, including those developed from varieties derived from rice variety LaKast. Advantageously, the rice variety could be used in crosses with other, different, rice plants to produce the first generation (F₁) rice hybrid seeds and plants with superior characteristics. The variety of the invention can also be used for transformation where exogenous genes are introduced and expressed by the variety of the invention. Genetic variants created either through traditional breeding methods using variety LaKast or through transformation of LaKast by any of a number of protocols known to those of skill in the art are intended to be within the scope of this invention.

The following describes breeding methods that may be used with cultivar LaKast in the development of further rice plants. One such embodiment is a method for developing an LaKast progeny rice plant in a rice plant breeding program comprising: obtaining the rice plant, or a part thereof, of cultivar LaKast utilizing said plant or plant part as a source of breeding material and selecting an LaKast progeny plant with molecular markers in common with LaKast and/or with morphological and/or physiological characteristics selected from the characteristics listed in Tables 1 through 14. Breeding steps that may be used in the rice plant breeding program include pedigree breeding, back crossing, mutation breeding, and recurrent selection. In conjunction with these steps, techniques such as RFLP-enhanced selection, genetic marker enhanced selection (for example SSR markers) and the making of double haploids may be utilized.

Another method involves producing a population of cultivar LaKast progeny rice plants, comprising crossing cultivar LaKast with another rice plant, thereby producing a population of rice plants, which, on average, derive 50% of their alleles from cultivar LaKast. A plant of this population may be selected and repeatedly selfed or sibbed with a rice cultivar resulting from these successive filial generations. One embodiment of this invention is the rice cultivar produced by this method and that has obtained at least 50% of its alleles from cultivar LaKast.

One of ordinary skill in the art of plant breeding would know how to evaluate the traits of two plant varieties to determine if there is no significant difference between the two traits expressed by those varieties. For example, see Fehr and Walt, Principles of Cultivar Development, p 261-286 (1987). Thus the invention includes rice cultivar LaKast progeny rice plants comprising a combination of at least two LaKast traits selected from the group consisting of those listed in Tables 1-14 or the LaKast combination of traits listed in the Summary of the Invention, so that said progeny rice plant is not significantly different for said traits than rice cultivar LaKast as determined at the 5% significance level when grown in the same environment. Using techniques described herein, molecular markers may be used to identify said progeny plant as a LaKast progeny plant. Mean trait values may be used to determine whether trait differences are significant, and preferably the traits are measured on plants grown under the same environmental conditions. Once such a variety is developed its value is substantial since it is important to advance the germplasm base as a whole in order to maintain or improve traits such as yield, disease resistance, pest resistance, and plant performance in extreme environmental conditions.

Progeny of cultivar LaKast may also be characterized through their filial relationship with rice cultivar LaKast, as for example, being within a certain number of breeding crosses of rice cultivar LaKast. A breeding cross is a cross made to introduce new genetics into the progeny, and is distinguished from a cross, such as a self or a sib cross, made to select among existing genetic alleles. The lower the number of breeding crosses in the pedigree, the closer the relationship between rice cultivar LaKast and its progeny. For example, progeny produced by the methods described herein may be within 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 breeding crosses of rice cultivar LaKast.

The seed of rice cultivar LaKast, the plant produced from the cultivar seed, the hybrid rice plant produced from the crossing of the cultivar, hybrid seed, and various parts of the hybrid rice plant and transgenic versions of the foregoing, can be utilized for human food, livestock feed, and as a raw material in industry.

Tables

In Table 2, agronomic characteristics are shown for rice cultivar LaKast and for four to six other rice cultivars. These data are the result of the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials (ARPT) conducted from 2008-2013. (Stuttgart, Rice Research and Extension Center (RREC); Keiser, Northeast Research and Extension Center (NEREC); Pine Tree Branch Experiment Station, Colt, AR (PTES); Southeast Research and Extension Center, Rohwer (SEREC); Jackson County, Lonoke County, Clay County, Corning, AR; Newport Extension Center (NEC, NPBS), Newport Branch Experiment Station (NBES), Cross County and Desha County). Data from 2008 was collected in RREC, NEREC, PTES, SEREC and Jackson, with milling data collected from RREC, NEREC and Jackson County test plots. Data from 2009 was collected in RREC, PTES, NEREC, SEREC and Lonoke, with milling data collected from RREC, PTES, SEREC and Cross County test plots. Data from 2010 was collected in RREC, PTES, NEREC, NPBS, Lonoke and Clay counties, with milling data collected from RREC, PTES, Lonoke and Clay County test plots. Data from 2011 was collected in PTES, NPBS and Clay County, with milling data collected from PTES test plots. Data from 2012 was collected from RREC, PTES, NEREC, NPBS and Clay County, with milling data collected from all locations. Data from 2013 was collected from RREC, PTES, NEREC, NPBS, Clay County and Desha County with milling data collected from RREC, PTES, Clay County and Desha County test plots.

In Table 2, column one shows the variety, column two shows the average grain yield in bushels per acre (bu/ac), column three shows the average plant height in inches (in.), column four shows the maturity in days at 50% heading, column five shows the average test weight in pounds per bushel (lbs/bu) and column six shows the milling figures of percent head rice (or whole kernel rice) as compared to the percent of total milled rice (HR-TR).

TABLE 2 Yield Height Maturity Test Wt Milling Variety (bu/ac) (in.) (50% HD) (lbs/bu) HR:Tot 2008 ARPT LaKast 168 40 90 19.2 59:71 Roy J 172 42 97 18.3 61:71 Taggart 165 44 98 20.8 60:72 Templeton 156 41 95 16.3 57:71 Francis 170 39 92 17.4 62:72 Wells 165 40 94 19.0 56:72 Cheniere 142 35 90 16.6 61:72 2009 ARPT LaKast 177 42 89 46.1 65:72 Roy J 187 44 99 46.2 62:72 Taggart 183 45 97 45.9 65:73 Templeton 170 41 97 47.0 65:72 Francis 183 40 92 46.3 67:72 Wells 183 41 95 46.6 62:74 Cheniere 161 35 94 46.5 67:73 2010 ARPT LaKast 196 44 83 43.3 53:67 Roy J 179 44 92 42.2 51:65 Taggart 180 46 89 42.4 45:67 Templeton 166 44 90 42.5 42:64 Francis 184 42 87 42.5 50:66 Wells 170 43 88 42.9 50:67 Cheniere 160 38 86 43.0 48:67 2011 ARPT LaKast 191 45 72 43.6 63:72 Roy J 196 44 83 41.8 64:71 Taggart 215 45 81 42.8 59:67 Templeton 165 45 81 43.3 64:72 Francis 195 42 77 42.8 68:72 Wells 182 45 79 42.5 61:72 Cheniere 177 38 80 42.7 66:71 2012 ARPT LaKast 210 43 83 42.0 61:72 Roy J 234 41 89 42.3 64:72 Taggart 199 45 88 42.2 56:71 Templeton 186 43 89 42.0 61:71 Francis 231 41 86 43.1 63:72 Wells 205 40 85 42.8 54:71 Cheniere 192 37 86 42.1 65:73 2013 ARPT LaKast 197 42 79 40.7 61:69 Roy J 203 42 85 40.5 63:69 Taggart 199 44 84 40.6 61:68 Francis 196 40 81 40.6 65:70 Wells 191 41 81 40.7 61:69 2008-2013 ARPT LaKast 190 43 83 60:70 190 Roy J 195 43 91 61:70 195 Taggart 188 45 90 57:70 188 Templeton 169 43 91 57:70 169 Francis 193 41 86 62:70 193 Wells 183 42 87 57:71 183 Cheniere 165 37 88 61:71 165

In Table 3, agronomic characteristics are shown for rice cultivar LaKast and for six other rice cultivars sorted by location. These data are the result of the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials (ARPT) conducted in 2008 in Stuttgart, Rice Research and Extension Center (RREC); Keiser, Northeast Research and Extension Center (NEREC); Pine Tree Branch Experiment Station, Colt, AR (PTES); Southeast Research and Extension Center, Rohwer (SEREC); and Jackson County (JC). Column one shows the variety, columns two through seven show the average grain yield in bushels per acre (bu/ac) in RREC, NEREC, PTES, SEREC, JC and average, respectively, columns eight through eleven show the average milling figures of percent head rice (or whole kernel rice) as compared to the percent of total milled rice (HR-TR) in RREC, NEREC, JC and average, respectively.

TABLE 3 Grain Yield (bu/ac) Head Rice (%):Total Rice (%) Variety RREC NEREC PTES SEREC JC Avg. RREC NEREC JC Avg. LaKast 167 185 164 177 148 168 64:71 55:70 59:71 59:71 Roy J 190 169 186 160 154 172 67:73 62:71 56:71 61:71 Taggart 194 145 181 125 181 165 61:69 60:72 60:73 60:72 Templeton 184 181 156 130 127 156 64:71 59:71 49:69 57:71 Francis 196 187 167 138 163 170 63:70 59:71 64:74 62:72 Wells 194 172 177 151 133 165 66:74 60:72 45:71 56:72 Cheniere 165 168 118 130 122 142 64:71 64:72 56:73 61:72 C.V._(.05) 12.6 28.8 16.9 15.8 31.5

In Table 4, agronomic characteristics are shown for rice cultivar LaKast and for six other rice cultivars sorted by location. These data are the result of the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials (ARPT) conducted in 2009 in Stuttgart, Rice Research and Extension Center (RREC); Keiser, Northeast Research and Extension Center (NEREC); Pine Tree Branch Experiment Station, Colt, AR (PTES); Southeast Research and Extension Center, Rohwer (SEREC); and Lonoke County (LK CO). Column one shows the variety, columns two through seven show the average grain yield in bushels per acre (bu/ac) in RREC, NEREC, PTES, SEREC, LK CO and average, respectively, columns eight through twelve show the average milling figures of percent head rice (or whole kernel rice) as compared to the percent of total milled rice (HR-TR) in RREC, PTES, SEREC, LK CO and average, respectively.

TABLE 4 Grain Yield (bu/ac) Head Rice (%):Total Rice (%) Variety RREC NEREC PTES SEREC LK CO Avg. RREC PTES SEREC LK CO Avg. LaKast 179 178 164 168 196 177 63:70 66:74 63:71 68:74 65:72 Roy J 187 200 159 188 199 187 67:72 59:72 59:70 64:73 62:72 Taggart 183 176 159 193 203 183 67:72 60:73 63:71 71:75 65:73 Templeton 182 186 142 158 184 170 67:71 61:73 61:71 69:73 65:72 Francis 182 191 156 183 206 183 68:71 65:74 66:72 69:72 67:72 Wells 192 198 163 155 209 183 68:73 64:75 63:74 51:75 62:74 Cheniere 175 186 145 109 189 161 69:72 66:75 63:69 72:75 67:73 C.V._(.05) 5.8 8.0 8.2 11.0 11.0

In Table 5, agronomic characteristics are shown for rice cultivar LaKast and for six other rice cultivars sorted by location. These data are the result of the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials (ARPT) conducted in 2010 in Stuttgart, Rice Research and Extension Center (RREC); Keiser, Northeast Research and Extension Center (NEREC); Pine Tree Branch Experiment Station, Colt, AR (PTES); Newport Extension Center (NPBS); Clay County (CL CO); and Lonoke County (LK CO). Column one shows the variety, columns two through eight show the average grain yield in bushels per acre (bu/ac) in RREC, NEREC, PTES, NPBS, CL CO, LK CO and average, respectively, columns nine through fourteen show the average milling figures of percent head rice (or whole kernel rice) as compared to the percent of total milled rice (HR-TR) in RREC, NEREC, PTES, CL CO, LK CO and average, respectively.

TABLE 5 Grain Yield (bu/ac) Head Rice (%):Total Rice (%) Variety RREC NEREC PTES NPBS CL CO LK CO Avg. RREC NEREC PTES CL CO LK CO Avg. LaKast 189 205 186 133 225 225 196 54:68 45:59 56:66 57:71 56:70 53:67 Roy J 161 156 186 143 206 224 179 53:63 40:57 59:69 44:70 57:68 51:65 Taggart 150 156 181 166 215 211 180 50:64 49:63 57:69 21:70 50:69 45:67 Templeton 161 176 181 105 195 180 166 51:63 36:60 34:60 37:70 52:68 42:64 Francis 178 192 184 94 230 224 184 54:64 34:61 54:67 52:68 57:69 50:66 Wells 151 157 166 142 216 188 170 53:68 44:59 53:65 44:72 59:72 50:67 Cheniere 175 165 162 103 198 157 160 62:70 48:59 47:64 22:71 61:70 48:67 C.V._(.05) 9.9 7.9 11.1 20.8 9.7 13.5

In Table 6, agronomic characteristics are shown for rice cultivar LaKast and for six other rice cultivars sorted by location. These data are the result of the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials (ARPT) conducted in 2011 in Pine Tree Branch Experiment Station, Colt, AR (PTES); Newport Branch Experiment Station (NBES); and Clay County (CL CO). Column one shows the variety, columns two through five show the average grain yield in bushels per acre (bu/ac) in PTES, NBES, CL CO and average, respectively, columns six through seven show the average milling figures of percent head rice (or whole kernel rice) as compared to the percent of total milled rice (HR-TR) in PTES and average, respectively.

TABLE 6 Head Rice (%):Total Grain Yield (bu/ac) Rice(%) Variety PTES NBES CL CO Avg. PTES Avg. LaKast 186 185 201 191 63:72 63:72 Roy J 230 163 195 196 64:71 64:71 Taggart 239 186 221 215 59:67 59:67 Templeton 182 155 159 165 64:72 64:72 Francis 242 155 189 195 68:70 68:70 Wells 208 148 191 182 61:72 61:72 Cheniere 197 141 193 177 66:71 66:71 C.V._(.05) 16.1 14.7 27.4

In Table 7, agronomic characteristics are shown for rice cultivar LaKast and for six other rice cultivars sorted by location. These data are the result of the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials (ARPT) conducted in 2012 in Stuttgart, Rice Research and Extension Center (RREC); Keiser, Northeast Research and Extension Center (NEREC); Pine Tree Branch Experiment Station, Colt, AR (PTES); Newport Branch Experiment Station (NBES); and Clay County (CL CO). Column one shows the variety, columns two through seven show the average grain yield in bushels per acre (bu/ac) in RREC, NEREC, PTES, NBES, CL CO and average, respectively, columns eight through thirteen show the average milling figures of percent head rice (or whole kernel rice) as compared to the percent of total milled rice (HR-TR) in RREC, NEREC, PTES, NBES, CL CO and average, respectively.

TABLE 7 Grain Yield (bu/ac) Head Rice (%):Total Rice (%) Variety RREC NEREC PTES NBES CL CO Avg. RREC NEREC PTES NBES CL CO Avg. LaKast 193 215 207 210 227 210 65:72 62:72 56:70 63:73 58:72 61:72 Roy J 257 212 260 217 222 234 61:73 68:73 60:72 66:71 63:72 64:72 Taggart 176 202 232 152 202 199 57:71 58:71 54:71 57:70 56:71 56:71 Templeton 147 224 197 — 177 186 59:70 66:73 56:70 — 61:71 61:71 Francis — 227 215 192 219 213 — 61:72 61:72 67:72 62:72 63:72 Wells 215 204 228 155 221 205 54:71 55:72 51:70 49:71 60:72 54:71 Cheniere 199 218 179 167 198 192 64:73 68:74 63:72 63:72 57:73 65:73

In Table 8, agronomic characteristics are shown for rice cultivar LaKast and for four other rice cultivars sorted by location. These data are the result of the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials (ARPT) conducted in 2013 in Stuttgart, Rice Research and Extension Center (RREC); Keiser, Northeast Research and Extension Center (NEREC); Pine Tree Branch Experiment Station, Colt, AR (PTES); Newport Branch Experiment Station (NBES); Clay County (CL CO); and Desha County (DS CO). Column one shows the variety, columns two through eight show the average grain yield in bushels per acre (bu/ac) in RREC, NEREC, PTES, NBES, CL CO, DS CO and average, respectively, columns nine through thirteen show the average milling figures of percent head rice (or whole kernel rice) as compared to the percent of total milled rice (HR-TR) in RREC, PTES, CL CO, DS CO and average, respectively.

TABLE 8 Grain Yield (bu/ac) Head Rice (%):Total Rice (%) Variety RREC NEREC PTES NBES CL CO DS CO Avg. RREC PTES CL CO DS CO Avg. LaKast 233 184 186 167 184 230 197 59:69 58:66 65:70 64:70 61:69 Roy J 233 204 182 169 200 231 203 63:70 60:67 65:70 64:70 63:69 Taggart 226 204 175 167 183 238 199 61:69 56:65 65:70 63:69 61:68 Francis 231 193 179 148 202 221 196 64:70 63:68 69:72 65:70 65:70 Wells 213 175 174 165 198 221 191 57:69 59:67 66:70 63:70 61:69

Table 9 shows agronomic characteristics for rice cultivar LaKast and six other rice cultivars. These data are from the Arkansas Cooperative Uniform Regional Rice Nursery (URRN) trials conducted in 2008, 2009 and 2011-2013. Column one shows the variety, column two shows the average grain yield in bushels per acre (bu/ac), column three shows the average plant height in inches (in.), column four shows the maturity in days at 50% heading, column five shows the kernel weight in milligrams (mg) and column six shows the milling figures of percent head rice (or whole kernel rice) as compared to the percent of total milled rice (HR-TR).

TABLE 9 Yield Height Maturity Kernel Wt Milling Variety (bu/ac) (in.) (50% HD) (mg) HR:TR 2008 LaKast 197 37 91 21.1 54:68 Roy J 163 41 98 20.3 57:70 Taggart 185 41 95 22.0 58:70 Templeton 187 36 94 18.0 59:70 Francis 177 39 90 18.0 61:70 Wells 174 37 93 21.1 54:68 Cheniere 184 34 93 17.7 57:69 2009 LaKast 226 43 90 21.8 59:71 Roy J 192 40 100  19.2 60:72 Taggart 191 43 94 22.0 58:71 Templeton 158 38 96 17.3 55:71 Francis 149 36 92 17.8 56:71 Wells 159 38 94 20.3 58:73 Cheniere 148 33 97 19.2 64:72 2011 LaKast 177 40 88 17.6 46:68 Roy J 160 41 92 17.1 52:67 Taggart 179 42 91 18.9 57:69 Templeton 136 40 90 16.3 56:67 Francis 144 38 87 15.3 41:67 Wells 136 38 89 17.9 44:67 Cheniere 120 35 88 15.1 56:68 2012 LaKast 250 44 93 18.9 59:70 Roy J 252 42 99 17.3 60:70 Taggart 235 45 97 18.8 54:69 Templeton 200 41 98 16.0 48:71 Francis 266 43 94 16.1 58:71 Wells 231 43 95 18.5 54:71 Cheniere 238 38 94 16.6 64:72 2013 LaKast 241 44 80 — 65:75 Roy J 240 44 87 — 65:73 Taggart 231 47 85 — 60:73 Templeton 220 43 85 — 65:73 Francis 217 43 83 — 63:73 Wells 227 45 84 — 63:74 Cheniere 229 41 81 — 69:75 2008-2013 LaKast 218 42 88 19.9 57:70 Roy J 201 42 95 18.5 59:70 Taggart 204 44 92 20.4 57:70 Templeton 180 40 93 16.9 57:70 Francis 191 40 89 16.8 56:70 Wells 185 40 91 19.5 55:71 Cheniere 184 36 91 17.2 62:71

Table 10 shows the Riceland Laboratory quality data for kernel characteristics of rice cultivar LaKast and rice cultivars Roy J, Taggart, Templeton, Francis, Wells and Cheniere. The data are the averages of the Arkansas Rice Performance Trials (ARPT) locations in a given year and the overall mean from 2009-2012. Column one shows the year, column two shows the variety, column three shows the percent head rice (HR), column four shows the percent total rice (TR), column five shows the percent hull yield, column six shows the percent bran yield, column seven shows the chalk, column eight shows the kernel length in millimeters (mm), column nine shows the kernel width in millimeters (mm), column ten shows the kernel thickness in millimeters (mm), column eleven shows the individual kernel weight in milligrams (mg), column twelve shows the satake W, which represents whiteness (essential color, although chalky rice can skew this value), column thirteen shows the satake MD, which represents milling degree or the amount of bran removal and column fourteen shows the length to width ratio.

TABLE 10 % Hull % Bran Kernel dimensions (mm) Kernel wt Satake L:W Year Variety % HR % TR yield yield Chalk Length Width Thickness (mg) W MD ratio 2009 LaKast 62.9 71.0 16.5 13.1 0.424 7.54 2.13 1.73 22.4 39 85 3.55 2010 LaKast 55.4 65.2 17.0 17.7 1.554 7.62 2.06 1.74 21.7 42 98 3.69 2011 LaKast 61.9 69.7 15.5 14.9 0.272 7.72 2.04 1.74 22.2 43 104 3.78 2012 LaKast 62.2 71.9 15.8 12.4 0.622 7.50 2.10 1.72 21.2 44 107 3.58 MEAN LaKast 60.6 69.4 16.2 14.5 0.718 7.60 2.08 1.73 21.9 42 99 3.65 2009 RoyJ 58.2 70.9 16.4 12.7 1.022 7.16 2.13 1.72 20.9 35 66 3.36 2010 RoyJ 55.4 64.5 17.8 17.7 0.843 7.21 2.01 1.75 20.3 36 73 3.58 2011 RoyJ 61.7 71.7 16.2 12.2 0.623 7.31 2.04 1.75 20.9 37 75 3.59 2012 RoyJ 64.3 72.5 16.5 11.0 0.570 7.19 2.07 1.76 20.9 42 100 3.48 MEAN RoyJ 59.9 69.9 16.7 13.4 0.764 7.22 2.06 1.75 20.7 37 79 3.50 2009 Taggart 63.7 71.9 16.5 11.8 0.537 7.37 2.21 1.74 22.7 35 70 3.33 2010 Taggart 57.5 66.8 17.4 15.8 0.821 7.57 2.13 1.76 22.8 39 86 3.55 2011 Taggart 62.2 72.6 15.0 12.4 0.630 7.57 2.17 1.76 23.5 38 83 3.49 2012 Taggart 60.9 72.2 16.6 11.2 0.622 7.43 2.15 1.74 22.3 43 106 3.45 MEAN Taggart 61.1 70.9 16.4 12.8 0.653 7.48 2.17 1.75 22.8 39 86 3.46 2009 Templeton 59.4 71.8 15.7 12.7 0.475 6.97 2.13 1.67 19.1 34 64 3.27 2010 Templeton 54.0 63.8 15.3 20.9 0.673 7.10 2.01 1.66 18.2 38 79 3.53 2011 Templeton 61.7 71.5 15.3 12.8 0.380 7.25 2.08 1.68 19.6 39 85 3.50 2012 Templeton 63.0 71.0 15.8 13.2 0.674 7.01 2.09 1.69 19.0 42 99 3.35 MEAN Templeton 59.5 69.5 15.5 14.9 0.550 7.08 2.08 1.67 19.0 38 82 3.41 2009 Francis 65.1 71.6 16.6 11.8 0.901 6.67 2.14 1.68 19.3 36 71 3.12 2010 Francis 56.0 64.8 18.4 16.7 1.013 6.66 2.08 1.67 18.4 37 76 3.20 2011 Francis 63.1 70.1 17.1 12.8 1.036 6.93 2.08 1.69 19.7 41 93 3.34 2012 Francis 63.8 71.9 15.9 12.2 1.036 6.68 2.05 1.66 18.3 42 100 3.27 MEAN Francis 62.0 69.6 17.0 13.4 0.997 6.74 2.09 1.67 18.9 39 85 3.23 2009 Wells 62.4 72.8 15.6 11.8 0.538 7.12 2.15 1.72 21.1 37 75 3.31 2010 Wells 55.8 65.9 17.4 16.7 1.088 7.32 2.09 1.73 21.5 41 95 3.50 2011 Wells 62.6 74.7 14.8 10.4 0.501 7.33 2.12 1.76 21.8 37 76 3.46 2012 Wells 58.8 71.4 16.2 12.5 1.260 7.25 2.09 1.73 20.9 44 107 3.47 MEAN Wells 59.9 71.2 16.0 12.8 0.847 7.25 2.11 1.74 21.3 40 88 3.44 2009 Cheniere 63.0 70.7 15.9 13.8 0.576 7.07 2.16 1.66 20.1 33 63 3.28 2010 Cheniere 56.6 65.0 15.1 19.8 1.234 7.05 2.07 1.62 18.3 40 85 3.41 2011 Cheniere 67.9 73.5 12.9 13.5 0.669 7.15 2.05 1.65 19.0 39 85 3.50 2012 Cheniere 65.3 72.4 14.6 13.0 0.693 7.07 2.11 1.63 18.7 43 106 3.36 MEAN Cheniere 63.2 70.4 14.6 15.0 0.793 7.08 2.09 1.64 19.0 39 84 3.39 Disease Evaluations for Rice Cultivar LaKast Greenhouse Blast Tests

Rice diseases are usually rated visually on a 0-9 scale to estimate degree of severity. Numerical data is often converted to this scale. A rating of zero indicates complete disease immunity. A rating of one to three indicates resistance where little loss occurs and in the case of rice blast pathogen growth is restricted considerably. Conversely, a nine rating indicates maximum disease susceptibility, which typically results in complete plant death and/or yield loss. Depending upon the disease in question, a disease rating of four to six is usually indicative of acceptable disease resistance under conditions slightly favoring the pathogen. Numerical ratings are sometimes converted to letter symbols where 0-3=R (resistant), 3-4=MR (moderately resistant), 5-6=MS (moderately susceptible) 7=S (susceptible) and 8-9 VS (very susceptible). Exceptions to established ratings do occur unexpectedly as disease situations change.

Greenhouse blast tests are the primary means of screening large number of entries for varietal reaction to the many blast races occurring in the production areas. Although results are quite variable and testing conditions tends to overwhelm any field resistance present in the entry, this test provides an accurate definition of the fungus-variety genetics. Blast field nurseries, utilizing both natural and lab produced inoculum, are established in an effort to better define blast susceptibility under field conditions. Since field nursery is also quite variable, new techniques are currently being developed and evaluated to better estimate cultivar field resistance to blast.

Table 11 shows a summary of available leaf blast rating data from LaKast and rice cultivars Roy J, Taggart, Templeton, Francis, Wells and Cheniere inoculated with the indicated race using standard greenhouse techniques from trials in 2008 to 2013. Data is shown on the standard visual rating scale of 0-9 where 0=resistant (R) and 9=very susceptible (VS). Plants in the 3-r leaf growth stage were sprayed with spore suspension, held in moist chamber 12-18 hours then moved to greenhouse conditions. Column 1 shows the variety and columns two through seventeen show the leaf blast rating data for each race for each variety in the visual rating scale and letter symbol.

TABLE 11 Variety IB-1 IB-1 IB-49 IB-49 IC-17 IC-17 IE-1 IE-1 IG-1 IG-1 ID-13 ID-13 IE-IK IE-IK IB-33 IB-33 LaKast 5 MS 7 S 6 S 5 MS 5 MS 5 MS 5 MS 7 S Roy J 6 S 7 S 5 MS 6 S 6 S 4 MR 5 MS 7 S Templeton 0 R 1 R 0 R 0 R 0 R 0 R 2 MR 5 MS Taggart 4 MR 4 MR 4 MR 6 S 6 S 4 MR 4 MR 7 S Francis 6 S 7 S 8 VS 6 S 6 S 4 MR 7 S 7 S Wells 6 S 7 S 7 S 7 S 2 MR 1 R 6 S 7 S Cheniere 6 S 7 S 7 S 6 S 5 MS 6 S 7 S 6 S

Table 12 shows a summary of available panicle and leaf blast rating data from upland field blast nurseries of LaKast and rice cultivars Roy J, Taggart, Templeton, Francis, Wells and Cheniere inoculated using standard greenhouse techniques from trials in 2008 to 2013 from Pine Tree Experiment Station (PTES) and Rice Research and Extension Center (RREC). Data is shown on the standard visual rating scale of 0-9 where 0=resistant (R) and 9=very susceptible (VS). Leaf blast ratings were made on plants soon after inoculation and panicle blast ratings were made at or near grain fill. Upland nursery plants in 4-6 leaf growth stage were artificially inoculated with multiple races IB-1, IB-49, IC-17, IE-1, IH-1 and IG-1 growing on rye grass seed. Plots were flooded as necessary with plants being drought stressed during the growing season, particularly after panicle exsertion. Column 1 shows the variety, column two shows the panicle blast rating number, column three shows the panicle blast rating letter symbol, column four shows the leaf blast rating number and column five shows the leaf blast rating letter symbol.

TABLE 12 Panicle Blast Panicle Blast Leaf Blast Leaf Blast Variety Rating Rating Rating Rating LaKast 5.9 S 2.8 S Roy J 4.7 S 2.1 MS Templeton 1.6 R 1.0 R Taggart 4.0 S-MS 3.1 S Francis 7.4 S 4.6 S Wells 5.9 S 3.7 S Cheniere 6.7 S 2.7 S

Table 13 shows a summary of available sheath blight rating data from field nurseries for LaKast and rice cultivars Roy J, Taggart, Templeton, Francis, Wells and Cheniere that were inoculated using standard techniques from trials in 2008 to 2013. Data is shown on the standard visual rating scale of 0-9 where 0=resistant (R) and 9=very susceptible (VS). Standard sheath blight ratings were made after grain fill as plants neared maturity. Nursery plants growing under typical flood irrigation were artificially inoculated at or near beginning internode elongation with the pathogen growing on corn and rye grass seed. Column one shows the variety, column two shows the mean overall numerical rating for sheath blight, column three shows the range of ratings and column four shows the overall rating letter symbol.

TABLE 13 Sheath Blight Range of Variety Numerical Rating Ratings Overall Rating LaKast 6.3 5-7 S Roy J 5.5 4-7 S Templeton 5.8 5-7 S Taggart 5.4 4-7 S Francis 6.4 6-7 S-VS Wells 6.0 5-7 S Cheniere 6.6 6-7 S-VS Straighthead Tests

Straighthead is a physiological disorder which appears to be affected by the oxygen potential of the soil. Under certain conditions, arsenic levels can increase in these soils or on soils where cotton has been grown and MSMA or other arsenical pesticides have been applied. Straighthead may also occur in soils high in organic matter. Symptoms can only be detected after panicles emerge and fail to produce grain. Foliage tends to remain dark green. Rice grains may be distorted especially on long-grain varieties forming a parrot-beak on the end of the hull. Floral parts may also be missing and under sever conditions panicles fail to emerge from the boot.

Table 14 shows the results of straighthead tests for rice cultivar LaKast compared to rice cultivars Roy J, Templeton, Taggart, Cybonnet and Wells. The data are from the 2008 and 2009 URRN and ARPT trials and are shown on a scale of 0 to 9 where 0=no symptoms and 9=no grain formation, with 1=81-90% grain develop, 2=71-80% grain develop and 96-100% panicles broken from vertical, 3=61-80% grain develop and 91-95% panicles broken from vertical, 4=41-60% grain develop and 61-90% panicles broken from vertical, 5=21-40% grain develop and 31-60% panicles broken from vertical with the appearance of a parrot beak, 6=11-20% grain develop and 10-30% panicles broken from vertical, 7=panicles emerged but totally upright and only 0-10% grain develop and 8=0-10% panicle emergence and no seed produced. Column 1 shows the variety and column two shows the average straighthead rating.

TABLE 14 Straighthead Variety Rating 2008 URRN and ARPT LaKast 6.0 Roy J 6.0 Templeton 7.3 Taggart 6.3 Cybonnet 5.6 Wells 7.0 LaKast 6.5 RU0801076 6.3 Templeton 7.3 Taggart 5.0 Cybonnet 4.7 Wells 6.7 2009 URRN and ARPT LaKast 6.5 RU0801076 5.0 Templeton 7.7 Taggart 6.0 Cybonnet 2.7 Wells 6.7 LaKast 6.7 RU0801076 6.7 Templeton 7.7 Taggart 6.7 Cybonnet 3.7 Wells 6.7

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in the context of describing the invention (especially in the context of the following claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by context. The terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and “containing” are to be construed as open-ended terms (i.e., meaning “including, but not limited to,”) unless otherwise noted. Recitation of ranges of values herein are merely intended to serve as a shorthand method of referring individually to each separate value falling within the range, unless otherwise indicated herein, and each separate value is incorporated into the specification as if it were individually recited herein. For example, if the range 10-15 is disclosed, then 11, 12, 13, and 14 are also disclosed. All methods described herein can be performed in any suitable order unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to the practice of the invention.

Deposit Information

A deposit of the Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas proprietary Rice Cultivar LaKast disclosed above and recited in the appended claims has been made with the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), 10801 University Boulevard, Manassas, Va. 20110. The date of deposit was Oct. 30, 2014. The deposit of 2,500 seeds was taken from the same deposit maintained by Board of Trustees of the University of Arkansas since prior to the filing date of this application. All restrictions will be irrevocably removed upon granting of a patent, and the deposit is intended to meet all of the requirements of 37 C.F.R. 1.801-1.809. The ATCC Accession Number is PTA-121684. The deposit will be maintained in the depository for a period of thirty years, or five years after the last request, or for the enforceable life of the patent, whichever is longer, and will be replaced as necessary during that period.

While a number of exemplary aspects and embodiments have been discussed above, those of skill in the art will recognize certain modifications, permutations, additions and sub-combinations thereof. It is therefore intended that the following appended claims and claims hereafter introduced are interpreted to include all such modifications, permutations, additions and sub-combinations as are within their true spirit and scope. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A seed of rice cultivar LaKast, wherein a representative sample of seed of said cultivar has been deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-121684.
 2. A rice plant, or a part thereof, produced by growing the seed of claim
 1. 3. A tissue culture of cells produced from the plant of claim 2, wherein said cells of the tissue culture are produced from a plant part selected from the group consisting of leaf, pollen, embryo, cotyledon, hypocotyl, meristematic cell, root, root tip, pistil, anther, flower, stem, glumes and panicle.
 4. A protoplast produced from the plant of claim
 2. 5. A protoplast produced from the tissue culture of claim
 3. 6. A rice plant regenerated from the tissue culture of claim 3, wherein the plant has all of the morphological and physiological characteristics of rice cultivar LaKast.
 7. A method for producing an F₁ hybrid rice seed, wherein the method comprises crossing the plant of claim 2 with a different rice plant and harvesting the resultant F₁ hybrid rice seed.
 8. A hybrid rice seed produced by the method of claim
 7. 9. A hybrid rice plant, or a part thereof, produced by growing said hybrid rice seed of claim
 8. 10. A method of producing an herbicide resistant rice plant, wherein the method comprises transforming the rice plant of claim 2 with a transgene, wherein the transgene confers resistance to an herbicide selected from the group consisting of imidazolinone, sulfonylurea, glyphosate, glufosinate, L-phosphinothricin, triazine and benzonitrile.
 11. An herbicide resistant rice plant produced by the method of claim
 10. 12. A method of producing an insect resistant rice plant, wherein the method comprises transforming the rice plant of claim 2 with a transgene that confers insect resistance.
 13. An insect resistant rice plant produced by the method of claim
 12. 14. The rice plant of claim 13, wherein the transgene encodes a Bacillus thuringiensis endotoxin.
 15. A method of producing a disease resistant rice plant, wherein the method comprises transforming the rice plant of claim 2 with a transgene that confers disease resistance.
 16. A disease resistant rice plant produced by the method of claim
 15. 17. A method of producing a rice plant with modified fatty acid metabolism or modified carbohydrate metabolism, wherein the method comprises transforming the rice plant of claim 2 with a transgene encoding a protein selected from the group consisting of fructosyltransferase, levansucrase, alpha-amylase, invertase and starch branching enzyme or DNA encoding an antisense of stearyl-ACP desaturase.
 18. A rice plant having modified fatty acid metabolism or modified carbohydrate metabolism produced by the method of claim
 17. 19. A method of introducing a desired trait into rice cultivar LaKast, wherein the method comprises: (a) crossing a LaKast plant, wherein a representative sample of seed was deposited under ATCC Accession No. PTA-121684, with a plant of another rice cultivar that comprises a desired trait to produce progeny plants, wherein the desired trait is selected from the group consisting of male sterility, herbicide resistance, insect resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, modified fatty acid metabolism, modified carbohydrate metabolism and resistance to bacterial disease, fungal disease or viral disease; (b) selecting one or more progeny plants that have the desired trait; (c) backcrossing the selected progeny plants with the LaKast plants to produce backcross progeny plants; (d) selecting for backcross progeny plants that have the desired trait; and (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) three or more times to produce selected fourth or higher backcross progeny plants that comprise the desired trait.
 20. A plant produced by the method of claim 19, wherein the plant has the desired trait and otherwise all of the physiological and morphological characteristics of rice cultivar LaKast.
 21. The plant of claim 20, wherein the desired trait is herbicide resistance and the resistance is conferred to an herbicide selected from the group consisting of imidazolinone, sulfonylurea, glyphosate, glufosinate, L-phosphinothricin, triazine and benzonitrile.
 22. The plant of claim 20, wherein the desired trait is insect resistance and the insect resistance is conferred by a transgene encoding a Bacillus thuringiensis endotoxin.
 23. The plant of claim 20, wherein the desired trait is modified fatty acid metabolism or modified carbohydrate metabolism and said desired trait is conferred by a nucleic acid encoding a protein selected from the group consisting of fructosyltransferase, levansucrase, alpha-amylase, invertase and starch branching enzyme or DNA encoding an antisense of stearyl-ACP desaturase. 